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Peabody Dean Camilla Benbow testifies before Congress

Posted 4/14/2010

The dean of Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of education and human development told members of Congress that a proposal to eliminate targeted federal support funds for teacher preparation would undermine President Obama's goal of having a  highly effective teacher in every K-12 classroom

"Colleges and universities prepare more than 85 percent of teachers," Camilla Benbow said April 15 during her tesimony before Congress. "There can be no great teaching without great teacher preparation, just as there can be no great principals without great principal preparation."

Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development, testified on the role that schools of education, like Peabody, play in ensuring that all students have great teachers and great school leaders. She was speaking to a a roundtable session of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee about the Elementary and Secondary Education Act Reauthorization.

In her testimony, she opposed the elimination/consolidation of the Teacher Quality Partnership Grants in the Higher Education Act and the elimination of the 2.5 percent set-aside for higher education in Title II of ESEA in the FY 2011 budget. Benbow also recommended to the committee the full funding of the Teacher Quality Partnership Grants at the authorized level of $300 million and that the set-aside for higher education in Title II of ESEA be increased to 5 percent.

“Higher education continues to be in a unique and unparalleled position to deliver effective teacher preparation, bringing together the expertise of the arts and sciences and research-based pedagogy to ensure highly effective K-12 teachers,” said Benbow.

Video of her testimony will be available later at www.vanderbilt.edu/news.
 
Benbow has served as dean of Peabody College since 1998. Her scholarly work focuses on gifted children and the development of mathematical talent. She co-directs, with David Lubinski, the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY), a longitudinal study examining the developmental trajectories of more than 5,000 individuals throughout the lifespan. She is particularly interested in identifying the educational experiences and interventions most conducive to developing intellectual talent and excellence in careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

She has authored or co-authored more than 100 articles and 35 chapters. In 2006, Benbow was appointed by President George W. Bush to the National Science Board; she was elected to the board’s executive committee in 2009. Also in 2006, she was appointed by then-Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings as vice chair of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel.

Contact:  Melanie Moran, (615) 322-NEWS
 melanie.moran@vanderbilt.edu

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