Joanne P. Brady
Joanne Brady, EDC Vice President and Director of the Center for Children & Families (CC&F), is recognized in the U.S. and abroad for her contributions to the field of child development and early childhood education. For more than 25 years she has worked collaboratively with preschools, elementary schools, states, and governments to help them examine and refine their systems in order to improve the impact of teaching and learning. Her contributions extend beyond the U.S.; Ms. Brady has worked with a range of universities and NGOs in Eastern Europe and Russia to design and evaluate curricula and approaches to educational reform that promote active learning in schools and classrooms.
As Director of CC&F, Ms. Brady provides conceptual leadership to a wide range of complex projects that include research, program evaluation, curriculum design, and the translation of research and best practice into useful educational products for practitioners and policymakers concerned with the healthy development of young children and their families. A critical focus of Ms. Brady’s recent work has been on the design and evaluation of teacher development approaches that build teachers’ knowledge in areas including language and literacy, science, social and emotional development, and cognitively challenging curriculum. These credit-bearing programs have been delivered nationwide—supported by state and federal grants. Ms. Brady and her colleagues are now examining the impact of this professional development on teachers’ practices and children’s learning.
Ms. Brady has presented her work at major conferences and seminars in the U.S. and abroad and has contributed to numerous publications including Critical Issues in Early Childhood Professional Development, a volume released in the fall of 2005. She holds a master’s degree in Education, with concentrations in urban education and early childhood education, from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
