Bios

Marilyn Cochran-Smith is the John E. Cawthorne Chair in Teacher Education for Urban Schools at Boston College and editor of The Journal of Teacher Education. She was AERA President for 2004-2005. She is also the Co-Chair (with Ken Zeichner) of the AERA Panel on Research and Teacher Education and Co-Editor of its report, Studying Teacher Education, released in June 2005.

She has written multiple award-winning articles and books on teaching and teacher education research, policy and practice as well as on teaching and teacher education for social justice. Her book, Walking the Road: Race, Diversity and Social Justice in Teacher Education, was published by Teachers College Press in 2004.

David M. Fetterman is the Director of Evaluation in the School of Medicine at Stanford University and a Consulting Professor of Education at Stanford University. David is a past-president of the American Evaluation Association. He has conducted international, national, state and local-level evaluations, including a three year national evaluation of dropout programs for the US Department of Education. He has also conducted research on migrant, bilingual, and individuals with disabilities-oriented education programs. Although he is recognized for his contributions to the development of ethnography and ethnographic evaluation, his most recent efforts have focused on developing empowerment evaluation—to help people help themselves. Empowerment evaluations have been conducted with many organizations, including recent projects such as the Hewlett Foundation’s $5 million One East Palo Alto community revitalization project. David was elected a fellow of the American Anthropological Association and the Society for Applied Anthropology and he received both the Paul Lazarsfeld Award for Outstanding Contributions to Evaluation Theory and the Myrdal Award for Cumulative Contributions to Evaluation Practice - the American Evaluation Association’s highest honors.

Dr. Doug Fuchs has been principal investigator of 35 research grants and cooperative agreements, most of which have come from the Office of Special Education Programs in the U.S. Department of Education. This research has focused on the development of effective and practical pre-referral interventions, peer-assisted learning strategies in reading and math, curriculum-based measurement procedures, and methods of reintegrating students with high-incidence disabilities into mainstream settings. In 2001, he was named Joe B. Wyatt Distinguished University Professor by Vanderbilt University.

Dr. Lynn Fuchs has over 20 years experience working with students with special needs. She is a nationally recognized expert conducting research on classroom-based assessment and instructional methods to enhance outcomes for students with disabilities. She is the co-director of the Vanderbilt Reading Clinic, which provides intensive reading instruction to students with severe reading disabilities and designs sophisticated evaluation methods to track and account for student growth. She was the recipient of the Samuel Kirk award for Best Practice Article in Learning Disabilities Research and Practice (2000), of the School Psychology Review Best Article of the Year award (2001), and of the Career Research Award from the Council for Exceptional Children.

John H. Hager was nominated by President George W. Bush on June 1, 2004, to the position of assistant secretary for special education and rehabilitative services, and he was confirmed by the Senate on Nov. 21, 2004. Prior to that, Hager served as a consultant to U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. Hager became the director of Virginia's homeland security soon after the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and served in that position until May 1, 2004. Initially serving with then-Governor James Gilmore, Hager led the transition and then assumed a Cabinet-level position under newly elected Governor Mark Warner. He was responsible for the management, structure and organization of and funding for the state's security.

Hager was elected to Virginia's second-highest office, that of lieutenant governor, in 1997, and served in that position for four years. In this position, John Hager was a strong proponent of better education, improved transportation and a more effective and efficient system of governance. As president of the Senate, he proudly cast numerous tie-breaking votes, including a vote to return the state's lottery profits to localities for use in public education. He received national recognition as chairman of the Disability Commission and as a role model for disabled Virginians. A strong proponent of anti-crime initiatives, he was involved with the Drug Task Force, the DNA Task Force and safe driving legislation.

Hager graduated from Purdue University with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and from Harvard University with a master's degree in business administration. He served in the United States Army and the Army Reserves, rising to the rank of captain.

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