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Researcher Profiles

NCSALL researchers are affiliated with the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, World Education, Rutgers University, Portland State University, and the Center for Literacy Studies at the University of Tennessee -- the NCSALL partner institutions -- as well as the Harvard School of Public Health, Brown University, and Michigan State University.

John Comings
In addition to serving as NCSALL's director, John Comings is a senior researcher and lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The recipient of an Ed.D. from the University of Massachusetts, he previously served as vice president of the Literacy Division of World Education, Inc. He also has directed the State Literacy Resource Center in Massachusetts and led projects to improve the teaching of both math and health in adult education programs. His research focuses on adult learner persistence and the impact of adult literacy programs.

Research Project: Adult Student Persistence Study
NCSALL Publications by John Comings

Cristine Smith
Cristine Smith is NCSALL's deputy director and a staff member of World Education, Inc. In addition to conducing research related to staff development in adult basic education, she has served as the national coordinator of NCSALL's Practitioner Dissemination and Research Network. Currently, she is engaged in the Connecting Practice, Policy, and Research initiative to create a national system enabling practitioners and policymakers in all states to learn from and have input into research. She holds an Ed.D. from the University of Massachusetts.

NCSALL Research Project: Staff Development Study
NCSALL Publications by Cristine Smith

Harold Beder
In addition to serving as a member of NCSALL's management team and director of its ABE/GED labsite, Harold Beder is a professor in the Department of Educational Theory, Policy, and Administration at Rutgers University's Graduate School of Education. His research has focused on the outcomes, impacts, and teaching dynamics of adult literacy education. He earned an Ed.D. from Columbia University.

NCSALL Research Projects: Classroom Dynamics Study, Classroom Dynamics in Adult ESOL Study, Assessment of Outcomes Study
NCSALL Publications by Harold Beder

Mary Beth Bingman
Mary Beth Bingman has conducted research related to outcome assessment in adult literacy education. In addition to serving as a member of NCSALL's management and dissemination teams, she is associate director of the Center for Literacy Studies at the University of Tennessee. She also has experience as a preschool teacher, volunteer literacy tutor, peace education center staff member, community college adult literacy project county coordinator, and university adjunct faculty member. She holds a Ph.D. degree from the University of Tennessee.

NCSALL Research Projects: Equipped for the Future (EFF) Study, Assessment of Outcomes Study
NCSALL Publications by Mary Beth Bingman

Silja Kallenbach
Silja Kallenbach has more than 20 years of adult literacy education experience as a teacher, administrator, and staff developer. Currently, she is the director of the New England Literacy Resource Center at World Education, Inc. She also served as a co-researcher on the national Equipped for the Future (EFF) lifelong learning content standards project. For NCSALL, she was co-director of the Adult Multiple Intelligences Study, with Julie Viens of Harvard Project Zero.

NCSALL Research Project: Adult Multiple Intelligences
NCSALL Publications by Silja Kallenbach

Robert Kegan
Robert Kegan is the William and Miriam Meehan Professor in Adult Learning and Professional Development in Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. At Harvard, he also serves as educational chair of the Education Institute for Management and Leadership in Education and co-director of both the Change Leadership Group and a medical education reform program involving Harvard Medical School. A psychologist, he teaches, researches, writes, and consults in the areas of adult development, adult learning, and professional development.

NCSALL Research Project: Adult Development Study
NCSALL Publications by Robert Kegan

Richard Murnane
Richard Murnane is the Juliana W. And William Foss Thompson Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is also an economist whose research focuses on the relationships between education and the economy. As a NCSALL researcher, he has worked with John Tyler of Brown University to examine the economic impact of the GED credential for adults. He holds a Ph.D. from Yale University.

NCSALL Research Project: GED Impact Study
NCSALL Publications by Richard Murnane

Victoria Purcell-Gates
Victoria Purcell-Gates is a professor in the College of Education at Michigan State University whose research focuses on literacy acquisition and development in the context of families, communities, and schools. For NCSALL, she examined change in home literacy practices and contextualized learning. She earned a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

NCSALL Research Project: Literacy Practices of Adult Learners
NCSALL Publications by Victoria Purcell-Gates

Stephen Reder
Stephen Reder is chair of the Department of Applied Psychology at Portland State University, where he is also directing the NCSALL ESOL labsite and the Longitudinal Study of Adult Literacy. He holds a Ph.D. degree from Rockefeller University.

NCSALL Research Project: Longitudinal Study of Adult Learning
NCSALL Publications by Stephen Reder
ESOL Labsite

Rima Rudd
Rima Rudd is a lecturer on health education in the Department of Health and Social Behavior at the Harvard School of Public Health. Her work for NCSALL focuses on health literacy and on the relationship of health, health information, and adult education. She holds a Sc.D degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.

NCSALL Research Project: Health and Adult Learning and Literacy Study
NCSALL Publications by Rima Rudd

John Strucker
John Strucker is a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education whose research for NCSALL has focused on adult reading development. He previously taught and assessed adults with reading difficulties at the Community Learning Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He earned an Ed.D. degree at Harvard University.

NCSALL Research Project: Adult Reading Components Study
NCSALL Publications by John Strucker

John Tyler
John Tyler is an associate professor of education, economics, and public policy at Brown University and a faculty research fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research focuses on the impact of the GED and how skills influence economic returns in the labor market. Also a former middle school math teacher and Texas cotton farmer, he earned an Ed.D. at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

NCSALL Research Project: GED Impact Study
NCSALL Publications by John Tyler

Julie Viens
Julie Viens is a Harvard Project Zero researcher who work has considered the application of multiple intelligences theory from preschool through adult literacy education. She also serves as a consultant to schools and programs adopting multiple intelligences theory and practices.

NCSALL Research Project: Adult Multiple Intelligences
NCSALL Publications by Julie Viens

Updated 7/27/07 :: Copyright © 2005 NCSALL