NEPC Topic Experts on Grade Retention

David C. Berliner is Regents’ Professor of Education Emeritus at Arizona State University. He has also taught at the Universities of Arizona and Massachusetts, at Teachers College and Stanford University, and at universities in Canada, Australia, The Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, and Switzerland.  He is a member of the National Academy of Education, the International Academy of Education, and a past president of both the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the Division of Educational Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA).

He is the winner of numerous awards, most notably the Brock award and the AERA award for distinguished contributions to education, the E. L. Thorndike award from the APA for lifetime achievements, and the NEA “Friend of Education” award for his work on behalf of the education profession.  An interview with Professor Berliner on Your Education Matters can be found here.

Professor Berliner has authored more than 200 published articles, chapters and books. Among his best known works is the book co-authored with B. J. Biddle, The manufactured crisis, and the book co-authored with Sharon Nichols, Collateral damage: How high-stakes testing corrupts American education. He co-edited the first Handbook of educational psychology and the books Talks to teachers, and Perspectives on instructional time. His most recent book, 50 Myths and Lies that Threaten America’s Public Schools, was co-authored with Gene V Glass and students, and published in March, 2014.

Email David C. Berliner at: berliner@asu.edu
 

Lorrie Shepard is Distinguished Professor and Dean Emerita in the School of Education at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research focuses on psychometrics and the use and misuse of tests in educational settings. In addition to technical work on validity theory, standard setting, and statistical models for detecting test bias, her studies evaluating test use have addressed the identification of learning disabilities, readiness screening for kindergarten, grade retention, teacher testing, and effects of high-stakes accountability testing on teaching and learning. Her current work focuses on curriculum-embedded format assessment practices. She served as President of the American Educational Research Association, the National Council on Measurement in Education, and the National Academy of Education.

Email Lorrie Shepard at: lorrie.shepard@colorado.edu

Mary Lee Smith is a Regents' Professor Emeritus of education policy and measurement, statistics, and research methodology at Arizona State University. Dr. Smith's research focuses on school policies, identification of learning disabilities, effects of grade retention, and consequences of high-stakes achievement testing. She received her doctorate at the University of Colorado and is the author of Political Spectacle and the Fate of American Schools (RoutledgeFalmer, 2004).

Email Mary Lee Smith at: MLSmith@asu.edu

Paul Thomas, Professor of Education, taught high school English in rural South Carolina before moving to teacher education. Recent books include Parental Choice?: A Critical Reconsideration of Choice and the Debate about Choice (Information Age Publishing, 2010) and 21st Century Literacy: If We Are Scripted, Are We Literate? (Springer, 2009) co-authored with Renita Schmidt. He maintains a blog addressing the role of poverty in education: http://livinglearninginpoverty.blogspot.com/. His teaching and scholarship focus on literacy and the impact of poverty on education, as well as confronting the political dynamics influencing public education in the U.S. His work can be followed at http://radicalscholarship.wordpress.com.

Email Paul Thomas at: paul.thomas@furman.edu