Conference Speakers

Eric Bettinger is an Associate Professor of Education at Stanford University, focuses on factors that improve students’ access to and success in college. He is the lead author of a recent study examining the impact of coaching on student persistence and graduation from college.

Dr. Bettinger's current research focuses on factors that improve students' access to and success in college. Some of these factors include the role of teacher charactistics and class sizes in college, the role of need-based financial aid, and the complexity of the college application process. Bettinger has also conducted significant research on the effects of financial incentives for students and on the effects of voucher programs on both academic and non-academic outcomes of participating students.

Wes Moore is a youth advocate, Army combat veteran, businessman, nonprofit leader, and author. His book, The Other Wes Moore, was published by Random House in April 2010, and became an instant New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.

Despite early challenges, Wes graduated Phi Theta Kappa from Valley Forge Military College in 1998 and Phi Beta Kappa from Johns Hopkins University in 2001. He completed an MLitt in International Relations from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar in 2004.

Wes served as a Paratrooper in the US Army for ten years and retired as a Captain. His service to our country includes a combat tour of duty in Afghanistan with the elite 1st Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division. Wes deployed to the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan and spearheaded the American strategic support plan for the Afghan Reconciliation Program. A White House Fellow from 2006 to 2007, Moore served as a Special Assistant to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Wes was a featured speaker at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver and was named Crain’s New York Business’ “40 Under 40 Rising Stars” in 2009. He has been featured by The Oprah Winfrey Show, People magazine, USA Today, Essence, The View, Meet the Press, Charlie Rose, Tavis Smiley, and NPR, amongst others.

Wes is committed to helping young people redirect their lives and supporting the parents, teachers, mentors, and volunteers who care for and work with our nation’s youth. A portion of his proceeds from the sales of The Other Wes Moore are being donated to the US Dream Academy and City Year.

Melissa Roderick is the Hermon Dunlap Smith Professor at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago and a senior director at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. Professor Roderick is an expert in urban school reform, high school reform, high-stakes testing, minority adolescent development, and school transitions. Her work has focused attention on the transition to high school as a critical point in students’ school careers and her new work examines the transition to college among Chicago Public School (CPS) students. In prior work, she led a multi-year evaluation of Chicago's initiative to end social promotion and has conducted research on school dropout, grade retention, and the effects of summer programs.

Professor Roderick is an expert in mixing qualitative and quantitative methods in evaluation. Her new study focuses on understanding the relationship between students' high school careers and preparation, their college selection choices and their post-secondary outcomes through linked quantitative and qualitative research. In this joint project with the Chicago Public Schools, Professor Roderick is assisting CPS in tracking successive cohorts of Chicago students and building new indicators through analysis of high school transcripts and surveys of students and teachers to assess the preparation of CPS graduates for college. She is concurrently leading a qualitative study that is following over 100 juniors from three Chicago high schools from the 11th grade to two years after graduation and examining differences in the educational demands of their classroom environments through a linked study of high school and college classrooms.

From 2001 to 2003, Professor Roderick joined the administration of the Chicago Public Schools to establish a new Department of Planning and Development. At SSA Professor Roderick is the faculty director of a new program in community schools and youth development. She is a founding board member and currently serves as the chair of the board of North Lawndale College Preparatory Charter High School. Professor Roderick has a Ph.D. from the Committee on Public Policy from Harvard University, a master's degree in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and an A.B. from Bowdoin College.