Keynote Speakers
Saturday, March 3, 2007

Dr. Jeanne M. Burns

Dr. Jeanne M. Burns is currently the Associate Commissioner on Teacher Education Initiatives for the Office of the Governor and the Board of Regents.  She is also co-director of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Educational Excellence and co-director of The Wallace Foundation Grant awarded to the Office of the Governor during November 2004.  During the last five years, she has also served as Principal Investigator for a $3.2 million Title II Teacher Quality State Enhancement Grant awarded to the Office of the Governor during August 2000. These are initiatives that are jointly supported by the Governor, Board of Regents, and Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.  Dr. Burns received her M.Ed. and Ph.D. from Louisiana State University.  After leaving the state to teach at Stetson University, Dr. Burns returned to Louisiana to accept a position at Southeastern Louisiana University.  She is an Associate Professor at Southeastern and teaches courses in the areas of leadership for change, gifted education, and reading.  At the present time, she is on loan to the state to work full time for the Governor and Board of Regents.  Dr. Burns has published in professional journals and presented papers at over 150 international, national, regional, and state conferences.  During the last ten years, Dr. Burns has been directly involved in educational reform and assisted state leaders to develop a state plan for K-12 education, create the K-12 technology initiative, develop the K-12 school accountability system, develop the state’s Distinguished Educator’s Program, coordinate efforts to redesign all public and private teacher education and educational leadership programs within the state, implement a new teacher preparation accountability system, and support the implementation of a value-added teacher preparation assessment model.

Dr. George Noell

George Noell is a professor of psychology and the director of the doctoral program in school psychology at Louisiana State University. Dr. Noell’s research has focuses on two distinct themes. First, his research examines means of making psychological treatments for developmental, behavioral, and academic concerns evident in children more effective. Dr. Noell’s research is also examining methods for evaluating the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs through the use of standardized student achievement data. Dr. Noell has served as the principal investigator for more than 10 funded projects. Dr. Noell has authored and coauthored research articles, book chapters, books, and professional technical manuals examining various issues in educational assessment, behavioral consultation, intervention, and system service delivery. His work has been cited in peer reviewed sources indexed by the Social Sciences Citation Index more than 200 times. He has served as the evaluator for several statewide projects in Louisiana designed to improve students’ educational outcomes. Dr. Noell currently severs on several editorial boards in education and psychology including one appointment as editor-in-chief. Dr. Noell is a fellow of the Division of School Psychology of the American Psychological Association and has been elected a member of the Society for the Study of School Psychology.