Fuhrman, an NAEd Board Member and former Secretary-Treasurer, was elected to her new post in Fall 2008 and served as the organization’s President-elect for the past year. 

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 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. 

 

Fuhrman 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 more than $11 million in funding to partner with public schools in Harlem.

 

At its annual Fall meeting, NAEd issued a proclamation congratulating Shepard, its outgoing president, on her “tremendous leadership.” The proclamation said Shepard had left NAEd “in a better position than ever to fulfill its mission to advance the highest quality education research and its use in policy formation and practice.”  

 

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