Four-year term at helm of leading national research organization will begin in October 2009 

Susan Fuhrman has been elected the next President of the National Academy of Education (NAEd), a post she will hold while continuing to serve as President of Teachers College.

Fuhrman, currently NAEd Board Member and Secretary-Treasurer, will hold the title of the organization’s President-elect until October 2009. At that time she will begin a four-year term as President, succeeding Lorrie A. Shepard, Dean of the School of Education at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Founded in 1965, NAEd advances the highest quality education research and its use in policy formation and practice. Since its establishment, the Academy has undertaken numerous commissions and study panels which typically include both NAEd members and other scholars with expertise in a particular area of inquiry. 

Among the Academy’s most important current efforts is a partnership with the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences in an Education Policy White Papers Initiative, which seeks to connect policymakers in the administration of the next U.S. President, as well as Congress, with the best available evidence on selected education policy issues. The project’s working groups, comprising many of the nation’s top education researchers, are now in the process of developing white papers that address a range of issues, including teacher quality; standards and assessments; time for learning; math and science education; reading and literacy education; and equity and excellence in American education.

The Academy’s President is elected by its 174 U.S. members and 17 foreign associates, who themselves are elected on the basis of outstanding scholarship or contributions to education. 

Dr. Fuhrman exemplifies both of those criteria. Among her edited books are The State of Education Policy Research (with David K. Cohen and Fritz Mosher, 2007); The Public Schools (The Institutions of American Democracy Series, with Marvin Lazerson, 2005); Redesigning Accountability Systems for Education (with Richard Elmore, 2004); From the Capitol to the Classroom: Standards-Based Reform in the States (2001); and Rewards and Reform: Creating Educational Incentives that Work (with Jennifer O’Day, 1996).  

Fuhrman also previously served as Dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, which she elevated to the top tier of education schools nationwide, and is the founding director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE), the nation’s first federally funded education policy center. Under her leadership, CPRE has played a major role during the past 30 years in analyzing the education standards movement. It is now a leader in researching the strategies and tactics that make for effective classroom instruction.

Fuhrman also is a recognized expert on international education issues, as well as on the creation of university-public school partnerships. Since assuming the presidency of Teachers College, she has established partnerships between the College and leaders in nations around the world, including Jordan, India, Iceland, and the Dominican Republic.  On the local level, Fuhrman has led TC in securing $8 million in funding to partner with public schools in Harlem.

“Dr. Fuhrman has shown great leadership in her role as Secretary-Treasurer of NAEd, and the selection committee felt she was the best qualified person to meet the challenges the organization faces in the future,” said Dr. Allan Collins, NAEd selection committee chair and Professor Emeritus of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University.

“With its recent move to the Keck Center of the National Academies in Washington, D.C., and with the increased interest both nationally and internationally in high quality research on education, the National Academy of Education is poised to become an even more important voice in education worldwide,” said Dr. Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and currently Jacob K. Javits Visiting Professor at New York University.  “Following the distinguished presidency of Lorrie Shepard, Susan Fuhrman is the ideal person to lead the organization going forward.  The Academy and all those interested in education will be well served by her wide leadership experience, her shrewd sense of timely issues, and her admirable qualities of temperament and judgment.”

Dr. Fuhrman, for her part, praised Dr. Shepard’s achievements as NAEd president. “With her deep understanding of educational research and policy issues, Lorrie Shepard has brought outstanding strategic leadership to NAEd,” she said. “She has transformed the organization, greatly expanding its scope and influence. It has been a privilege to serve with her and to learn from example.”

For more information about NAEd, visit www.naeducation.org/

Published Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008