Ladson-Billings elected to National Academy of Education

Gloria Ladson-Billings, the Kellner Family Professor in Urban Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, has been elected to the National Academy of Education (NAE).

The NAE seeks advancement of the highest quality education research and its use in policy formulation and practice. Founded in 1965, the academy consists of up to 150 members in the United States and up to 25 international associates who are elected on the basis of outstanding scholarship or outstanding contributions to education. Since its establishment, the academy has sponsored a variety of commissions and study panels that have published proceedings and reports.

“The National Academy is the most selective group of scholars in education. We’re very proud of our members here at UW–Madison and particularly pleased that Professor Ladson-Billings’ intellectual leadership has been recognized in this way,” says Charles Read, dean of the School of Education.

Ladson-Billings is the current president of the 22,000-member American Educational Research Association, the most prominent professional organization in the field. Her research has focused on multicultural education, social studies, critical race theory and education, and culturally relevant pedagogy. She and colleagues developed Teach for Diversity, a graduate program for training teachers for diverse racial, ethnic and socioeconomic settings.

She is the author of “The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African-American Students” and “Crossing Over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms.” Her latest book is “Beyond the Big House: African American Educators on Teacher Education.”

In 2002, Ladson-Billings received an honorary doctorate from Umeå University in Umeå, Sweden and in 2003-04 was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.

She joins several other School of Education faculty members who are current or emeritus NAE members. They include Adam Gamoran, professor of sociology and educational policy studies; William Reese, professor of educational policy studies; Thomas Romberg, professor emeritus of curriculum and instruction; Elizabeth Fennema, emerita professor of curriculum and instructions; and Jurgen Herbst, emeritus professor of educational policy studies and history.

Since 1986, NAE has administered the NAE/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, funded by the Spencer Foundation, which is designed to ensure the future of research in education by supporting young scholars working in critical areas of educational scholarship. In keeping with its mission, the academy funds proposals that promise to make significant scholarly contributions to the field of education as well as to advance the careers of the fellowship recipients.