Robert D. Barr, Ph.D.  Robert D. Barr, PhD, is recognized as one of the nation's leading experts on reaching and teaching children of poverty and minority students and helping high-poverty schools become high-performing ones. He is an educator, speaker, author, and emeritus analyst with the Boise State University Center for School Improvement. Dr. Barr has keynoted hundreds of state, regional, national, and international conferences and has provided workshops for schools, school districts, and state departments of education in every area of the United States. He has helped high-poverty schools in more than 40 states improve student performance. Dr. Barr has been selected for the National School Boards Association's prestigious Meet the Expert sessions at their national conferences 12 times and has received three national awards for Distinguished Achievement. He has been a guest on the PBS program Firing Line, ABC Evening News, and the Fox television show The O’Reilly Factor and has been quoted in The New York Times, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal. In addition, he has provided expert testimony to the US Congress and a number of state legislatures and often serves as an expert trial witness. Dr. Barr has served as professor and director of teacher education at Indiana University, dean of the Oregon State University College of Education, and dean of the Boise State University College of Education. | Emily L. Gibson, Ed.D.  Dr. Emily L. Gibson provides professional development in school improvement, school culture, and Common Core math and writing. With over 20-years in public education, she is an experienced K-8 instructional coach, classroom teacher, and alternative education instructional leader. Dr. Gibson was recognized with Humboldt County’s Excellence in Teaching award in 2008. She currently works as a Social-Emotional Learning Specialist for Bend LaPine Schools in Bend, Oregon. In addition to teaching students in grades 3-8 for over 15 years, Dr. Gibson also served as a teacher-consultant with the Redwood Writing Project, providing professional development in writing and literacy instruction for K-college teachers in Humboldt County. She established the Young Writer Programs for the Redwood Writing Project, and implemented writing workshops for HSU’s OLLI (Osher Life-Long Learning Institute). Building a Culture of Hope (2013)
was recognized as a 2014 finalist in the American Association of Publishers’
Revere Awards, and earned Learning magazine’s 2015 Teachers’ Choice Award for
professional development. Education Leadership solicited Dr Gibson
and Dr. Barr to write an article on the Culture of Hope for the Summer, 2015
digital issue. Dr. Gibson co-authored (with Dr. Scott Willison) “Graduate School Learning Curves: McNair Scholars’ Postbaccalaureate Transitions” (Equity & Excellence in Education, 2011). Her research interests include equity and access to higher education, school culture, school improvement, teacher education, writing and mathematics instruction, and social/emotional aspects of learning. Emily Gibson holds BAs in Liberal Studies and Psychology and an MA in Education from Humboldt State University. She earned an Ed.D. in Curriculum & Instruction, emphasizing school improvement, from Boise State University. Her MA thesis focused on differentiated instruction, and her Ed.D. dissertation focused on school improvement and school choice; both studies utilized qualitative research methods. (Curriculum Vita available below) |
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