A panel of early education experts discuss the stimulus bill’s affects on early childhood education, improving compensation for and public perception of childcare providers and preschool teachers, and making the importance of early education widely known.
Panelists are Erikson Institute president Samuel J. Meisels; Chicago Public Schools chief early childhood education officer Barbara T. Bowman; Ounce of Prevention Fund president Harriet Meyer; and First Five Years Fund executive director Cornelia Grumman. The panel is moderated by Herr Research Center for Children and Social Policy interim director Jana Fleming.
Bio
Barbara T. Bowman
Barbara Bowman is one of three faculty founders of Erikson Institute, the nation's premier graduate school in child development, and served as president of the institute from 1994 to 2001. She is the Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Development.
She is an authority on early education, a national advocate for improved and expanded training for practitioners who teach and care for young children, and a pioneer in building knowledge and understanding of the issues of access and equity for minority children.
Bowman is chief early childhood education officer for the Chicago Public Schools. She is past president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children and has served on numerous boards, including the High Scope Educational Foundation, the Institute for Psychoanalysis, Business People in the Public Interest, the Great Books Foundation, the Chicago Public Library Foundation, and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
Among the honors she has received are the Voices for Illinois' Children Start Early Award; Chicago Association for the Education of Young Children Outstanding Service to Children Award; Harold W. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education; and the National Black Child Development Institute Leadership Award. She has been awarded honorary degrees from Bank Street College, Roosevelt University, Wheelock College, Dominican University, Governor's State University, and Lewis University.
Cornelia Grumman
Before joining the First Five Years Fund, Cornelia Grumman served on the editorial board of the Chicago Tribune, where she wrote primarily about education, juvenile justice, Illinois politics and the death penalty. Ms. Grumman has received numerous awards for her work, including the 2001, 2005 and 2006 Casey Medals for Meritorious Journalism for editorials on children and family issues, a 2001 Studs Terkel award for coverage of disadvantaged communities and three Herman Kogan awards for editorials about the criminal justice system. She also won a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for her series of editorials calling for death-penalty reform.
Samuel J. Meisels
Dr. Meisels has served as president of Erikson Institute since 2002.
He came to Erikson after 21 years at the University of Michigan, where he is now professor and research scientist emeritus. Previously, he was a faculty member in the Department of Child Study and director of the Eliot-Pearson Children's School at Tufts. A former preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade teacher, he also served as senior advisor in early childhood development for the Developmental Evaluation Clinic of Boston's Children's Hospital. He holds a doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
One of the nation's leading authorities on the assessment of young children, Dr. Meisels has published over 200 articles, books, and monographs, and is co-author of the Work Sampling System, the Early Screening Inventory Revised, The Ounce Scale and The Handbook of Early Childhood Intervention.
Harriet Meyer
Ms. Meyer has been the President of the Ounce of Prevention Fund since 1991. She is widely recognized for her work shaping public policies and creating innovative programs that help young, at-risk children and their families. Harriet co-chairs the Illinois Early Learning Council, the first coordinating council for young children to be housed in an Illinois Governor's office. On the national level, Harriet served on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee that created our country's Early Head Start program.
member. 
