Kathryn Borman is a professor of anthropology and is affiliated with the Alliance for Applied Research in Education and Anthropology in the Department of Anthropology at the University of South Florida. She has extensive experience in educational reform and policy as well as evaluation studies. She has served as principal investigator of four major National Science Foundation research projects, including Assessing the Impact of the National Science Foundation Urban Systemic Initiative, investigating systemic reform in four cities. This study resulted in the book, Meaningful Urban Education Reform: Confronting the Learning Crisis in Mathematics and Science in 2005. Dr. Borman is currently studying a science program in elementary schools in Pasco County, Florida. She has authored or edited more than 25 books, chapters, and series in educational policy and reform and is a past editor of several journals.
Becky Smerdon is a principal research scientist, vice president and deputy director, U.S. Education and Workforce Development, AED, where she leads the development of a research and development agenda on disadvantaged youth and education reform with a particular focus on successful transition to college and work. Prior to joining AED, Dr. Smerdon was a senior research associate at the Urban Institute, where she led a formative and summative evaluation of Baltimore’s high school reform initiative, a study of the math/science pipeline in North Carolina’s reforming high schools funded by the National Science Foundation, and a project developing indicators of high school reform implementation funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She is a nationally recognized expert in high school reform and has conducted a number of research studies, many of which have been presented at national conferences and published in academic journals.
