Meet Our Advisors
GreatSchools special education advisory panel
Candace Cortiella's
work as Director of the nonprofit The Advocacy Institute focuses on improving the lives of people with learning disabilities, through public policy and other initiatives. The mother of a young adult with learning disabilities, she lives in the Washington, D.C., area.
Guinevere Eden, Ph.D.
is an associate professor at Georgetown University and directs the Center for the Study of Learning. Supported by NIH and NSF, her research focuses on the brain-basis of dyslexia. Dr. Eden has published widely and is a frequent speaker. She is President-Elect of the International Dyslexia Association and serves on several editorial boards.
Dave L. Edyburn, Ph.D.
is a Professor in the Department of Exceptional Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His teaching and research interests focus on the use of technology to enhance teaching, learning, and performance. He has authored over 150 articles and book chapters on the use of technology in special education.
Sam Goldstein, Ph.D.
is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Utah, a Research Professor of Psychology at George Mason University and Director of the Neurology, Learning and Behavior Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is Editor-in-Chief of the
Journal of Attention Disorders, author, co-author or editor of 26 books and dozens of book chapters and peer reviewed research articles.
Sheldon H. Horowitz, Ed.D.
has served as the Director of Professional Services at the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) since 1996. Before that he directed hospital-based evaluation and treatment programs in psychiatry and developmental and behavioral pediatrics. He has taught at primary, middle-school, and college levels, and is widely published on topics relating to LD across the lifespan.
Arlyn Roffman, Ph.D.,
an expert on transition issues in special education, is a Professor at Lesley University, where she served as founding director of Threshold, a transition program for young adults with learning disabilities, from 1981 to 1996. She has served on the professional advisory boards of several national LD organizations and maintains a private practice in psychology.
Wayne Steedman
is a co-founder and President of Callegary & Steedman, P.A., a law firm located in Baltimore, which primarily focuses on disability law. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland Law School and the School of Social Work, and has practiced law for 19 years with his primary focus on special education. Wayne has represented his clients in due process hearing, state and federal court, and the Third and Fourth Circuit Courts of Appeals. He is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. He has presented nationwide on special education law and written numerous articles which have been published on-line and in print journals.
College Bound national advisory board
Michael Carter
is the director of special projects at the Monterey Institute for Technology and
Education and a principal at Twin Learning. Prior to making educational math games
for the Hewlett and Gates Foundations, he directed education research at Apple and
designed games to help kids become better storytellers and scientists. More
recently he was a principal investigator for a MacArthur Foundation study on kids'
informal learning and digital media and the chief playwright at Zookazoo, a virtual
world for children. He received his BA, MA, and PhD from Stanford University.
Angela Duckworth
is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her
research centers on self-control (the ability to regulate emotions, thoughts, and
feelings in the service of valued goals) and grit (perseverance and sustained
interest in long-term goals). Recently Duckworth has become interested in the
intersection of personality psychology and economics and how their distinct
methodological advances might benefit one another. She received her BA from
Harvard University and her PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.
Bonny Forrest
is the creator of Project SKIP, an online service that assesses cognitive and
other developmental issues in children, and has been an advocate for children
for over 20 years. Also the former director of clinical programs and developmental
services at Rady Children's Hospital, she managed the Loyola Clinical Centers with
a teaching emphasis in child and adolescent interventions. As an attorney and a
child psychologist, with specialized training in pediatric neuropsychology,
Forrest has been a researcher and clinician in academic and medical settings such
as the Yale Child Study Center, directed clinics serving low-income populations,
and conducted a private practice focusing on the assessment of cognitive and other
developmental issues in children since 2001.
Patricia B. Martel
is an educational consultant and has been an educator for more than 44 years.
A specialist in literacy acquisition, Martel served for 10 years as principal
of George Moscone Elementary in San Francisco. Under her leadership, the
predominantly low-income, ELL school maintained the highest Latino test scores
in the city and one of the highest in California. Since retiring from the
school district, she has worked as a private educational consultant and
speaker. Martel is also a member of the state superintendent's P-16 Council
and the San Francisco Education Fund's board of directors. She received her BA
from San Jose State University and her MA from the University of San Francisco.
Preston Smith
is the cofounder and chief academic officer of Rocketship Education. Before
starting Rocketship, he was the founder and principal of LUCHA, a small
elementary school in San Jose, Calif. In 2007 it received an API score of
881 and was the highest-ranked elementary school in the district. Prior to
founding LUCHA, Smith taught first grade at Clyde Arbuckle Elementary School
and was named Teacher of the Year in 2003. The same year he was also a
finalist for Teach for America's Sue Lehmann Award, given to corps members
with the highest classroom academic gains in the nation. Smith graduated
Phi Beta Kappa from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Guadalupe Valdés
is the Bonnie Katz Tenenbaum Professor of Education at Stanford University and
specializes in language pedagogy and applied linguistics, focusing on the
English-Spanish bilingualism of U.S. Latinos. Her research on Latino students
and families has led to five books and more than 70 articles. She serves on the
editorial boards of several journals including Review of Educational Research,
The Modern Language Journal, and Hispanic Journal of the Behavioral Sciences.
Valdés holds a BA from the University of West Florida and an MA and PhD from
Florida State University.
