Two federal policymakers, Kerri Briggs, assistant secretary
for elementary and secondary education for the U.S. Department of Education,
and Catherine Freeman, senior program officer for the National Research
Center of the National Academies of Science, will co-lead a new special
topics course in education policy at Vanderbilt University's Peabody College
of education and human development this spring.  Both Briggs and Freeman are
Peabody alumni.

"We are very excited to be able to tap the expertise of two individuals who
have played important roles in the formulation of recent federal education
policy," Camilla P. Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and
Human Development, said. "The course will expose our students to firsthand
knowledge of policymaking at a very high level."

The course, The Development and Implementation of Federal Education Policy,
will examine the intersection between politics and policy and the
institutions and variables--political, legal, financial or public
relations—that affect the way issues are resolved. It is designed to assist
students in developing skills in research, analysis, writing and policy
strategy. This includes learning how to absorb large amounts of material in
a short time, analyze that material and prepare decision memoranda.

As assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, Briggs played
a pivotal role in policy and management issues affecting schools under the
No Child Left Behind Act by directing, coordinating and recommending policy
for programs designed to assist state and local education agencies with
improving academic achievement, helping ensure equal access to services, and
providing financial assistance to local education agencies whose revenues
are affected by federal activities.

Freeman manages projects that examine the use of research data in the social
sciences, the role of language acquisition in closing the achievement gap,
and whether the development of common metrics is beneficial to the social
sciences. She previously served as deputy assistant secretary for policy in
the U.S. Department of Education, where she formulated and executed NCLB
policies nationwide.

For more information about Peabody College, ranked the No. 2 education
school in the nation in 2008 by U.S. News & World Report, visit
http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu. For more Vanderbilt news, visit VUCast,
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news.

 

-- Vanderbilt News Service