Advisory Board

The National Advisory Board

With 20 members from a variety of fields related to the ELC’s work, the National Advisory Board provides their individual and collective expertise to guide the ongoing development of the project—the PlaySet apps, the outreach materials and processes, the research and evaluation, and the strategy for bringing the products to market, as we continue to break new ground in serving children and their families.  Board members have committed their time to help guide the ELC’s work through the rapidly evolving technology changes in media and its uses as educational tools as well as the implications of the use of media for young learners, their parents and caregivers, and educators and their institutions.

Members

Mark Atkinson
Founder and Chief Strategist, Teachscape, Inc.

Bonnie Blagojevic
Founding Member, Maine Early Education Technology Exploration Collaborative

Adam Bookman
Ex-Officio, Program Officer, U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement

Alex Chisolm
Executive Director and Founding Member, The Learning Games Network, MIT

Drew Davidson
Director, Entertainment Technology Center, Carnegie Mellon University

Chip Donohue
Director, Technology in Early Childhood Education (TEC) Center/ Dean, Distance Learning and Continuing Education, Erikson Institute

Yolanda Garcia
Director, E3 (Excellence in Early Education) Institute, WestEd.

Melissa Lazarin
Director, PreK—12 Education Policy, Center for American Progress

Brian Lekander
Ex-Officio, Program Manager of RTL, U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement

Michael Levine
Executive Director, Joan Ganz Cooney Center

Ranny Levy
Executive Director, Coalition for Quality Children’s Media/ KIDS FIRST!

Jan Plass
Co-Director, Games for Learning Institute; Director, Consortium for Research and Evaluation of Advanced Technology and Education

Jose Rico
Former Ex-Director of the White House Initiative on Education Excellence for Hispanics

Jose Luis Rodriguez
CEO, Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network

Sheila Smith
Director of Early Childhood, National Center for Children in Poverty

Dorothy Strickland
Professor Emeritus, Rutgers Distinguished Research Fellow, NIEER

Christina Taharally
Program Director, Master’s Program in Early Childhood Education, Hunter College

Robert Torres
Senior Program Officer, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Yasmina Vinci
Executive Director, National Head Start Association

Sarah E. Walzer
CEO, Parent-Child Home Program