By Laurel White
Three faculty from the School of Education have been elected to the National Academy of Education in recognition of their significant contributions to education research and policy.
Richard Halverson, Stacey Lee, and David Shaffer were among just 19 scholars nationwide to be selected for the honor this year.
The National Academy of Education advances high-quality research to improve education policy and practice by undertaking original research and offering professional development fellowship programs. In a statement, Alfredo J. Artiles, president of the organization, said Academy members work to “continue strengthening the promise of education as a foundational pillar of our democratic society.”
“We welcome this outstanding group of scholars and leaders to the National Academy of Education at a critical moment in the history of our nation—one that demands a renewed commitment to the generation and use of scientific evidence in informing the field’s knowledge base, as well as policies and practices of educational systems,” he said.
Halverson is a professor and the Kellner Family Distinguished Chair in Urban Education in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis. His research aims to bring the research methods and practices of the Learning Sciences to the world of educational leadership and interactive media. He directs the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning Equity-Centered Leadership project, and is the co-owner of Leadership for Learning LLC. He was a co-founder and co-director of the Games + Learning + Society Research Center and founder of the Data-Driven Instructional System research project. He is co-author (with Allan Collins) of “Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology: The Digital Revolution and Schooling in America” and (with Carolyn Kelley) of “Mapping Leadership: The Tasks that Matter for Improving Teaching and Learning in Schools.”
Lee is a Vilas Research Professor and the Frederick Erickson WARF Professor of Educational Policy Studies in the Department of Educational Policy Studies. She is also a faculty affiliate in Asian American Studies. Her research focuses on the role of education in the incorporation of im/migrants into the United States. She is the author of “Unraveling the Model Minority Stereotype: Listening to Asian American Youth” and “Up Against Whiteness: Race, School and Immigrant Youth,” and “Resisting Asian American Invisibility: The Politics of Race and Education.”
Shaffer is the Sears Bascom Professor of Learning Analytics and the Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Learning Sciences in the Department of Educational Psychology. He is also a Data Philosopher at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. Before coming to the University of Wisconsin, he was a teacher, teacher-trainer, curriculum developer, and game designer. His current work focuses on merging statistical and qualitative methods to construct fair models of complex and collaborative human activity. He has authored more than 250 publications with over 100 co-authors, including “How Computer Games Help Children Learn” and “Quantitative Ethnography.”
Other National Academy of Education members affiliated with the UW–Madison School of Education are: Diana Hess, former dean and professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction; Gloria Ladson-Billings, professor emerit in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction; David Kaplan, Hilldale Professor and Richard L. Venezky Professor of Educational Psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology; and William Reese, Vilas Research Professor and Carl F. Kaestle WARF Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies.
Founded in 1965, the National Academy of Education consists of U.S. members and international associates who are elected on the basis of their scholarship. New members are nominated by individual Academy members once a year for review and elected by the organization’s membership. As members of the National Academy of Education, Halverson, Lee, and Shaffer will serve on expert study panels that address pressing issues in education and will engage in the Academy’s professional development fellowship programs.