Advisory Board
Dr. Pedro Noguera
Dr. Pedro Noguera is one of the nation’s leading scholars on issues related to race, inequality, and education. Currently he serves as the Dean of the Rossier School of Education, and Distinguished Professor of Education at USC. Previously he held endowed chairs at UCLA, NYU, Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of 15 books. His most recent book A Search for Common Ground with Rick Hess was the winner of the American Association of Publishers Prose Award in 2021. Noguera serves as an advisor to several states, school districts, foundations, NGOs and nonprofits. In 2022 he was appointed to President Biden’s National Commission on Hispanics. In 2014 he was elected to the National Academy of Education and Phi Delta Kappa honor society. In 2020 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Noguera has received eight honorary doctorates from American universities, most recently from his Alma Mater, Brown University. He has received awards from the Center for the Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and from the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at NYU for his research and advocacy efforts aimed at fighting poverty. In 2023 he was ranked 1 st in the nation for influence and impact in the field of education, by Education Week. Born in NY City to Caribbean immigrants, Noguera is the father of five children, and grandfather to five.
Dr. Elizabeth Kozleski
I engage in systems change and research on equity and justice issues in inclusive education in schools, school systems as well as state and national education organizations and agencies. My research interests include the analysis of systems change in education, how teachers learn in practice in complex, diverse school settings, including how educational practices improve student learning. Awards include the 2023 Luminary Award from the Division of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Exceptional Children, Council of Exceptional Children; the 2018 Budig Award for Teaching Excellence in Special Education at the University of Kansas; the 2017 Boeing-Allan Visiting Endowed Chair at Seattle University; the University of Kansas 2016 Woman of Distinction award; the 2013 Scholar of the Century award from the University of Northern Colorado; the 2011 TED-Merrill award for leadership in special education teacher education in 2011; and the UNESCO Chair in Inclusive International Research. I co-lead the World Education Research Association International Research Network on Student Voice for Promoting Equity and Inclusion in Schools along with Professor Kyriaki Messiou of the University of South Hampton, UK.
I have received funding for more than $35 million in federal, state, and local grants. I serve on the Board of Editors for the book series Inclusive Education and Partnerships, an international book series produced by Deep University. Recent books include Ability, Equity, and Culture (with co-author Kathleen King Thorius) published by Teachers College Press in ‘14 and Equity on Five Continents (with Alfredo Artiles and Federico Waitoller) published in ‘11 by Harvard Education Press.
Dr. Batya Elbaum
Dr. Elbaum is a Professor at the University of Miami with appointments in the Departments of Teaching and Learning, Psychology, and Pediatrics. She has been a longstanding advocate for families of children with developmental and/or learning differences, especially those that face additional challenges owing to racial, language, and/or cultural differences, low income, and/or adverse life experiences. Dr. Elbaum’s research has addressed a variety of critical issues in special education, including parents’ experiences working with teachers and school administrators, students’ achievement in reading and mathematics, the impact of different placements on children’s self-concept, and the ways in which preschool children’s experiences in inclusive classroom settings contribute to their language development and school readiness.
Over the course of her career, Dr. Elbaum has collaborated with state Departments of Education, federally funded technical assistance centers, and parent organizations to improve the interpretability and positive impact of accountability metrics. In particular, Dr. Elbaum has provided consulting on the measurement of child and family outcomes of early intervention, the evaluation of schools’ efforts to facilitate parents’ engagement, and the interpretation of representativeness in states’ accountability data.
Dr. Audrey Trainor
Audrey A. Trainor, PhD, studies equity and diversity in special education, focusing on postsecondary transitions for adolescents identified with learning and behavioral/emotional disabilities, including multilingual young people. A central purpose of her work is to improve inclusive transition education and post-school outcomes for people who are made vulnerable by limited access to educational opportunities and encouragement. Using capital theory, her projects examine how economic, cultural, and social capital coalesce and function as levers for power and agency in special education processes.
From 2017-2022, Audrey served as principal investigator for the IES-funded project, Factors Associated with Postsecondary Success for English Language Learners with Disabilities: A Mixed Methods Exploration. This study included secondary analyses of the NLTS studies' data on transition experiences and post-school outcome data of multilingual learners with disabilities and qualitative explorations of these experiences and outcomes for high school and postsecondary students in New York City. Her books and articles focus on qualitative research methodology and ethics, in addition to special education transitions from high school to adulthood. Trainor is a past president (2012-13) of the Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Career Development and Transition.
In 2023, the journal Multiple Voices awarded Audrey and her colleagues the journal's Publication Award for their paper, Secondary students receiving special education and English learner services: Identity informed transitions. Audrey's other awards include the 2015 DCDT Sitlington Research Award and named the 2014 Gershman/Ahler Distinguished Lecturer in Qualitative Research. Prior to her career in postsecondary education, she was a special education high school teacher working with students with disabilities for nearly a decade.
Dr. Marc Scott
Dr. Marc Scott is an applied statistician who specializes in statistical methods for longitudinal data. He has made substantial scientific contributions to labor market economics, sociology, psychology, education and health. He has led or served as Co-Investigator on studies of low-wage labor markets, pulmonary disease, educational attainment, and health, especially in under-resourced families. Methodological development has been in the areas of longitudinal data analysis (continuous and non-continuous outcomes, event histories), multilevel modeling, model-based clustering, and sequence analysis. He also has contributed to the field of causal inference, particularly in the area of sensitivity analysis. At his home institution (New York University), he has taught courses in statistical computing, multilevel models, generalized linear mixed models, and machine learning. He also co-directs the Center for Practice and Research at the Intersection of Information, Society and Methodology (PRIISM) at NYU.
Dr. Brenda Barrio
Brenda Barrio is an Associate Professor of Special Education (Critical Perspectives) at the University of North Texas. Her research focuses in the areas of disproportionality of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education, culturally responsive teaching in the response to intervention framework, bilingual and multicultural special education, assistive technology, and pre- and in-service teacher preparation.
Barrio also is the principal investigator and co-founder of UNT ELEVAR, which stands for Empower, Learn, Excel, enVision, Advance and Rise. UNT ELEVAR, one of a handful of such programs nationwide, gives young adults with intellectual disabilities the educational training to pursue a meaningful career and skills to lead an independent life.