Appendix D
Biographical Sketches of Committee Members
Adam Gamoran (Chair) is the John D. MacArthur professor of sociology and educational policy studies and the director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research focuses on inequality in education and school reform. Two of his current studies are large-scale randomized trials, one on the impact of professional development to improve teaching and learning in elementary and one on the impact of a parent involvement program to promote family-school social capital and student success. He also directs an interdisciplinary training program that prepares social science doctoral students to conduct rigorous research on issues of education policy and practice. He is a member of the National Academy of Education, and he currently chairs the congressionally mandated Independent Advisory Panel of the National Assessment of Career and Technical Education for the U.S. Department of Education. He holds a Ph.D. in education from the University of Chicago.
Julian Betts is professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and an adjunct fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. His research focuses on the economic analysis of education, and he has written extensively on the link between student outcomes and measures of public school spending, including class size, teachers’ salaries, and teachers’ level of education. His current research includes studies of school choice, San Diego’s controversial Blueprint for Student
Success, and California’s High School Exit Examination. He also serves on the board of directors of the Preuss School at UCSD, a charter school that admits disadvantaged students from the local area, and on the technical review panel for the longitudinal study of No Child Left Behind. He holds a B.A. in chemistry from McGill University, an M.S. in economics from Oxford University in England, and a Ph.D. in economics from Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada.
Jerry P. Gollub is a professor in the natural sciences and a professor of physics at Haverford College, and he is affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania. He has been provost of Haverford College and chair of its Educational Policy Committee. His research is concerned with nonlinear phenomena and fluid dynamics, and he teaches science courses designed for broad audiences on such topics as fluids in nature, predictability in science, and energy options and science policy. He served as chair of the Division of Fluid Dynamics of the American Physical Society and as a member of its executive board, and he is a recipient of the society’s fluid dynamics prize and its award for research in undergraduate institutions. He recently served as Leverhulme visiting professor at the University of Cambridge and overseas fellow of Churchill College. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he has served on the board of the National Science Resources Center. He received a Ph.D. in experimental condensed matter physics from Harvard University.
Glenn “Max” McGee is president of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA). Prior to becoming IMSA’s president, he served as superintendent of the Wilmette School District 39 in Wilmette, Illinois. He also previously served as senior research associate at Northern Illinois University Center for Governmental Studies,as state superintendent of education in Illinois and as a principal and teacher in several jurisdictions. His research looked at high-achieving, high-poverty schools that have closed the achievement gap. He is a past chair and current member of the board of the Golden Apple Foundation, and he serves on the board of the Illinois Association of Gifted Children and the Great Books Foundation. He is a member of the Governor’s P-20 Council, the Diversifying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois Board, and the Museum of Science and Industry’s advisory council. He holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in educational administration from the University of Chicago.
Milbrey W. McLaughlin is David Jacks professor of education and public policy at Stanford University, director of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities, and codirector of the Center for Research
on the Context of Teaching. Her research combines studies of K-12 U.S. education policy and work on the broad question of community-school collaboration to support youth development. Her research on public education focuses on how school teaching is shaped by context issues, such as organizational policy, and the social-cultural conditions of the schools, districts and communities. She is involved with local efforts to engage schools, community organizations and agencies, parents, and faith-based institutions in developing new strategies for promoting youth development. She holds an Ed.M. and a Ph.D. in education and social policy from Harvard University.
Barbara M. Means is codirector of the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International. She directs SRI’s study of science learning in California after-school programs and a national study of how schools are using student data to inform instructional decision making. Her research focuses on ways to foster students’ learning of advanced skills through the introduction of technology-supported innovations, and she led the recently completed comprehensive meta-analysis of research on the effectiveness of online learning for the U.S. Department of Education. Other recent work includes a synthesis of cognitive, curriculum, and intervention research on secondary mathematics learning and an examination of high schools with a science, technology, engineering, mathematics focus. She holds an A.B. in psychology from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Steven A. Schneider is the senior program director of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics at WestEd. He has been the principal investigator of major initiatives on a wide ranage of topics, including cognition and mathematics instruction, assessments and evaluation of student learning, technology and engineering literacy, and an evaluation of California’s Statewide Mathematics Implementation Study, He has more than 35 years of experience in science, mathematics, and technology education, including K-12 preservice teacher education, high school science teaching in biology, physics, and oceanography, and professional development. He holds a degree in biology from the University of California, Berkeley, a 6-12 science teaching credential from California State University, San Jose, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in the design and evaluation of educational programs with an emphasis in science, mathematics, and technology education.
Jerry D. Valadez is director of the Central Valley Science Project at California State University, Fresno. He has 30 years of experience in education as an assistant superintendent, school site administrator, supervisor,
curriculum coordinator, program director, instructor and science teacher, and has carried out research pertaining to the preparation of science and mathematics teachers, professional development, teacher quality, student support, English learners, and systemic reform in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. He served as president of the National Science Education Leadership Association and on numerous committees and task forces for the National Science Teachers Association. He has also served as special advisor to South Korea with the American Association for the Advancement of Science in developing the first joint international high school summer science academy. He holds an M.A. in educational administration and evaluation from California State University, Fresno, and an Ed.D. in educational leadership from University California, Davis, and California State University, Fresno.