Appendix B

Committee Member and Staff Biosketches

COMMITTEE BIOSKETCHES

SUE BREDEKAMP (Co-Chair), is an early childhood education specialist on curriculum, teaching, and professional development. She consults for national and state organizations, institutions of higher education, departments of education, and Head Start. As director of professional development at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Bredekamp developed and directed the accreditation system for early learning programs and led the association’s work on curriculum and assessment, early literacy, and teacher preparation. She edited NAEYC’s 1987, 1997, and 2009 editions of Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth Through Age Eight. Bredekamp is author of a teacher education textbook, Effective Practices in Early Childhood Education: Building a Foundation (4th ed.). She received the Visionary Leadership Award from the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership; the Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes named her one of 11 pioneers in early childhood education. Bredekamp was a member of the National Research Council’s Committee on Early Childhood Mathematics, which produced the report Mathematics in Early Childhood: Paths Toward Excellence and Equity. She holds a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction and an M.A. in early childhood education from the University of Maryland.

LINDA M. ESPINOSA (Co-Chair), is professor emeritus of early childhood education at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She has served as

codirector of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University and as vice president at Bright Horizons Family Solutions. Most recently, Espinosa was co-principal investigator for the Getting on Track for Early School Success: Effective Teaching in Preschool Classrooms project at the University of Chicago; she was also co-principal investigator for the Center for Early Care and Education Research—Dual Language Learners at Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina. Her recent research and policy work has focused on effective curriculum and assessment practices for young children from low-income families who are dual language learners. Espinosa’s latest book, Getting It RIGHT for Young Children from Diverse Backgrounds (2015), focuses on quality education for dual language learners. She co-authored the California Early Learning Foundations, English Language Learners chapter; California Preschool Curriculum Frameworks English Language Development Chapter; and Desired Results Developmental Profile, 2010, English Language Development Assessment Measures. Additionally, Espinosa served as lead consultant for the Los Angeles Unified School District’s transitional kindergarten program development team and is a member of the Council for Professional Development Governing Board. She was a contributing author of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report Promoting the Educational Success of Children Learning English (2017).

DEANA M. AROUND HIM is senior research scientist at Child Trends and adjunct faculty member at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. She also serves on the Tribal Early Childhood Research Center’s leadership team. Around Him’s research aims to improve the well-being of American Indian and Alaska Native children, youth, and families through community-based and -engaged approaches that meet their cultural and contextual needs. She has worked with centers that focus on strengthening tribal research capacity and policies, and she strives to conduct research and evaluation that respects tribal sovereignty, builds on cultural strengths, and produces outcomes that inform policy and programs. Around Him serves on the editorial board for Maternal and Child Health Journal and as co-chair for the Native Research Network’s board of directors. Her training focused on the social determinants and life-course approaches to health, culturally responsive evaluation, research ethics, and maternal and child health. She earned her B.A. in community health from Brown University, M.S. with a concentration in maternal and child health from the Harvard School of Public Health, and Dr.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

GARNETT SAUNDERS BOOKER III is an early childhood teacher with District of Columbia Public Schools. Previously, he served as lead teacher at the University of Delaware Early Learning Center and taught in a Head

Start program and charter school. Booker’s research on developmental play practices in early childhood resulted in creating a rough-and-tumble play space for young children at the Early Learning Center. He has also presented on practices that support developmental play in early childhood education and the developmental importance of Makers Space in early childhood programs. Booker received the Strattner Gregory Child Advocacy Award and the Rita Fillos Award from the University of Delaware. He holds a master’s degree in human development and family studies.

DOUGLAS H. CLEMENTS is Kenney Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Learning, professor, and executive director of the Marsico Institute of Early Learning and Literacy at University of Denver’s Morgridge College of Education. Previously, he worked as a kindergarten teacher for 5 years and a preschool teacher for 1 year, and he has since conducted research and published widely in the areas of (1) the learning and teaching of early mathematics; (2) computer applications in mathematics education; (3) creating, using, and evaluating a research-based curriculum and taking successful curricula to scale using technologies and learning trajectories; and (4) development and evaluation of innovative assessments of mathematics achievement, as well as mathematics teaching. Prior to his appointment at the University of Denver, Clements was a State University of New York (SUNY) distinguished professor at the University of Buffalo. He was a member of President Bush’s National Math Advisory Panel and served on the National Research Council Committee on Early Childhood Mathematics. Clements received his Ph.D. in elementary education from SUNY at Buffalo.

LILLIAN DURÁN is professor in the Department of Special Education and Clinical Sciences at the University of Oregon. Her research is focused on improving instructional and assessment practices with multilingual children. Durán is currently involved in multiple efforts developing Spanish language and literacy assessments from preschool to 6th grade. She is also project director on several Office of Special Education Programs training grants focused on preparing master’s and doctoral students to serve traditionally marginalized populations with disabilities with a focus on equity and improving educational outcomes. Durán frequently delivers presentations nationally on the topic of recommended practices in language and literacy practices with multilingual learners, and she has served on multiple equity and diversity councils including for the National Association for the Education of Young Children and for the Division for Early Childhood. Prior to her work in higher education, she worked for 9 years as an early childhood special education teacher. Durán holds a B.A. in elementary education from Antioch College and an M.A. in education and human development from The George Washington University.

IHEOMA U. IRUKA is research professor in public policy and founding director of the Equity Research Action Coalition at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is leading projects and initiatives focused on ensuring that racially minoritized children and children from low-income households are thriving through the intersection of racial equity and culturally grounded research, program, and policy. Iruka’s areas of expertise include family engagement and support, early care and education programs and systems, and quality improvement systems. She takes part in numerous national and local boards and committees, such as the National Advisory Committee for the U.S. Census Bureau and the Board of Educational Affairs for the American Psychological Association. Iruka is scientific advisor for the National Research Conference in Early Childhood and serves with the Brady Education Foundation. She was a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committees on Supporting Parents of Young Children and Applying Neurobiological and Socio-Behavioral Sciences from Prenatal through Early Childhood Development: A Health Equity Approach.

SUSAN C. LEVINE is Rebecca Anne Boylan Distinguished Service Professor of Education and Society in the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago and inaugural faculty director of the UChicago Science of Learning Center. Her research focuses on the development of early spatial and numerical thinking, particularly on the kinds of adult–child interactions that foster learning in these domains. Levine studies how particular kinds of mathematical activities and conversations contribute to children’s math learning, and how math-relevant learning opportunities can be increased through interventions, both at home and at school. She also studies the role of math attitudes in mathematical performance and interests with a particular focus on the intergenerational effects of adult math anxiety on math learning and math attitudes. Levine received her Ph.D. in psychology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

JOAN L. LUBY is Samuel and Mae S. Ludwig Professor of Psychiatry (Child) at the Washington University School of Medicine, where she founded and leads the Early Emotional Development Program. She specializes in infant/preschool psychiatry, and for more than 30 years, her program of research has focused on early childhood affective psychopathology and emotional development. Luby has conducted some of the first large-scale empirical studies of preschool-onset depression and provided data on the validity, clinical characteristics, longitudinal course, and brain developmental outcomes of early-onset depression. With colleague Deanna Barch, she conducted a 17-year longitudinal study that investigates behavior and brain development using five waves of brain scanning, with a sample enriched for

depressive symptoms arising at age 3 years. These findings have informed the impact of key psychosocial factors, including maternal support and early-life adversity, on brain and behavioral development. Luby’s studies have established the powerful role of early childhood caregiver support and psychosocial adversity on neurodevelopment, and she has developed and tested a novel early parent–child intervention for depression that focuses on enhancing emotion development, showing powerful effects and neural change. She has published more than 200 papers and has been awarded numerous honors, including the Brain and Behavior Foundation Ruane Award and the American Psychiatric Association Ittelson Award.

CAMILLE MABEN served as executive director of First 5 California for the last decade. In that role, she staffed the California Children and Families Commission and directed the work of the agency and its staff. Through her leadership, First 5 California implemented several evidence-based and results-driven programs that focused on quality. Maben also served as division director of the Child Development Division at the California Department of Education, where she provided leadership and oversight to more than 700 early care and education contractors with a $1.7 billion budget. In her earlier work, she was appointed by the governor to serve as chief of staff for the Office of the Secretary of Education, where she coordinated and developed the governor’s education policy agenda. Maben also served as senior advisor to the superintendent of public instruction for former state superintendent Delaine Eastin and has worked as a consultant to the Assembly Education Committee. Her early career was spent serving young children with nationally recognized Bev Bos at the Roseville Community Pre-School. Maben has served on numerous boards and committees, including 30 years as a Rocklin Unified School District board member.

DEBORAH A. PHILLIPS is professor emerita of psychology, and associated faculty of public policy at Georgetown University. She was the first executive director of the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the National Research Council and the Institute of Medicine, and served as study director for From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Child Development. Phillips has also served as president of the Foundation for Child Development, director of child care information services at the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and congressional science fellow on the staff of Congressman George Miller. She has served on the National Board for Education Sciences (U.S. Department of Education), the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child at Harvard University, and the Research Advisory Board of the Committee on Economic Development. Phillips’ research on the developmental impacts of early education—child care, pre-K programs, and Head Start—has been

funded by the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Child Care Bureau, and numerous national foundations, and has been recognized at White House conferences and in the State of the Union address. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society. Phillips received the 2022 Nicholas Hobbs Award from the American Psychological Association, the 2022 President’s Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Award from Georgetown University, and the 2011 Distinguished Contributions to Education in Child Development Award from the Society for Research in Child Development. She completed her undergraduate degree in psychology from Stanford University and her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Yale University.

CHRISTINA J. WEILAND is associate professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Education and (by courtesy) Ford School of Public Policy, where she also codirects the Education Policy Initiative. Her research focuses on the effects of policies and interventions for children aged 0–8 years, particularly those from families with low incomes. Weiland’s work is also characterized by strong partnerships with practitioners, particularly the Boston Public Schools Department of Early Childhood. Her work has been recognized by awards from multiple professional associations (i.e., Society for Research in Child Development, American Educational Research Association, Association for Education Finance and Policy) and supported by funding from the Institute of Education Sciences and multiple foundations. Weiland holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University in quantitative policy analysis in education.

VIVIAN C. WONG is associate professor in research, statistics, and evaluation in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on research designs for evaluating interventions in early childhood and K–12 systems. Wong has examined the effectiveness of state prekindergarten programs in five states, as well as the impact of half- versus full-day prekindergarten on students’ achievement. As a methodologist, her expertise is in improving the design, implementation, and analysis of randomized experiments, regression-discontinuity, interrupted time series, and matching designs in field settings. Her most recent work emphasizes new methods for designing and analyzing systematic replication studies, especially for generalization purposes. Currently, Wong is principal investigator or co-principal investigator of multiple grants, funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and National Science Foundation, focused on systematic replication studies. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and Psychological Methods. She is associate editor of AERA Open. Wong received her Ph.D. in 2011 from

Northwestern University and was awarded the Outstanding IES Predoctoral Fellow Award.

STAFF BIOSKETCHES

REBEKAH HUTTON (Study Director) is senior program officer with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. In addition to the present study, she is also currently study director of the Committee on the Impact of Active Shooter Drills on Student Health and Wellbeing. Previously, she was study director of the committees on Exploring the Opportunity Gap for Young Children from Birth to Age 8; Addressing the Underrepresentation of Women of Color in Tech; and Summertime Experiences and Child and Adolescent Education, Health, and Safety. Prior to working at the National Academies, Hutton was an education management and information technology consultant working on projects in the United States, as well as in Haiti, Equatorial Guinea, and Djibouti. She has also worked as program manager and researcher at the National Center on Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt University and as an English language lecturer in Tourcoing, France. During her time with the Board on Children, Youth, and Families, Hutton has also worked on projects focused on fostering the educational success of children and youth learning English; reducing child poverty; and promoting the mental, emotional, and behavioral health of children and youth. She received her M.Ed. from Vanderbilt University in international education policy and management.

TARA NAZARI is senior program assistant with the Board on Children, Youth, and Families. In addition to the present study, she supports the Committee on the Impact of Active Shooter Drills on Student Health and Wellbeing. Before joining the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Nazari worked as research assistant at the University of Maryland, assisting in the development of family and community-based interventions. She holds a B.S. in family science from the University of Maryland, College Park, and plans to pursue a master’s in public health in the near future.

AMY STEPHENS is associate board director for the Board on Science Education of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She is adjunct professor for the Southern New Hampshire University Psychology Department, teaching graduate-level online courses in cognitive psychology and statistics. Stephens has an extensive background in behavioral and functional neuroimaging techniques and has examined a variety of populations spanning childhood through adulthood. She was study director for the workshop on Graduate Training in the Social and

Behavioral Sciences and for the recently released consensus reports Science and Engineering in Preschool Through Elementary Grades (2022); English Learners in STEM Subjects: Transforming Classrooms, Schools, and Lives (2018); Changing Expectations for the K–12 Workforce: Policies, Preservice Education, Professional Development, and the Workplace (2020); and Cultivating Interest and Competencies in Computing: Authentic Experiences and Design Factors (2021). Stephens holds a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Center for Talented Youth and the John Hopkins School of Education.

ELIZABETH “LIBBY” TILTON is research associate with the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. In addition to the present study, she supports the Committee on Understanding Breastfeeding Promotion, Initiation and Support Across the United States. Tilton has a background in management—with specialties in training, logistics, and relationship management—and data analytics. She has a B.S. in human resources management from Salisbury University, a M.A. in industrial/organizational psychology, and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in business psychology at The Chicago School, conducting research on narcissism and Machiavellianism in the context of leadership.

MEREDITH YOUNG is program officer with the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She currently serves as study director for the project Understanding Breastfeeding Promotion, Initiation and Support Across the United States. In her time at the National Academies, Young has supported projects evaluating dietary reference intakes, federal feeding guidelines, obesity prevention and treatment initiatives, preschool curriculum, and the racial and economic opportunity gap in child outcomes. She has supported evaluation and strategic planning efforts at the National Academies, and she serves as a volunteer staff reader for other divisions. Young received a B.S. in human nutrition, foods, and exercise with a concentration in dietetics from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and an M.N.S.P. in nutrition science and policy from Tufts University.