Keynote Speakers

Professor Barry McGaw AO, PHD

Barry McGaw is a Professorial Fellow in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne where he is Executive Director of the Cisco-Intel-Microsoft Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills project. He is also Chair of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority.

Prior to returning to Australia at the end of 2005, he was Director for Education at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). He had earlier been Executive Director of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and Professor of Education at Murdoch University, in Perth, Western Australia. He was originally a science teacher in Queensland.

Professor McGaw is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the Australian Psychological Society, the Australian College of Educators and the International Academy of Education. He is currently President of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and has been President of the Australian Association for Research in Education, the Australian Psychological Society, the Australian College of Educators and the International Association for Educational Assessment.

He received an Australian Centenary Medal in 2003 and was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia in 2004. He was the 2005-2006 recipient of University of Illinois Alumni Award for Exceptional Achievement.

 

Jean B. Crockett, Ph.D

Jean B. Crockett is the Director of the School of Special Education, School Psychology, and Early Childhood Studies at the University of Florida. Before earning a Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Virginia in 1997, she served as a teacher, building principal, and special education administrator in New York.

Dr. Crockett's research interests are at the intersection of special education and educational leadership focusing on the relationship between policy reform initiatives and the instruction of exceptional learners. Her publications address instructional programming and placement issues for students with disabilities, the conceptual, historical, and legal foundations of special education, and frameworks for leading special education in contemporary schools. She is the author of more than 40 publications and is a frequent speaker at both national and international conferences.

Dr. Crockett serves on numerous editorial and advisory boards for professional organizations. She is currently the President of the Division for Research of the international Council for Exceptional Children, and the special education editor for the Journal of Law and Education.