The Research
To ensure that the Building Better Brains initiative is research based, the district
has purchased numerous books related to brain research. Also, administrators
and teachers have attended brain research conferences and symposiums. Some
of the national leaders in neuroscience and brain research have helped shape
the Building Better Brains initiative. We would like to recognize two brain
research advocates that have been instrumental, Rick Hulefeld and Dr. William
Bender.
Rick Hulefeld is one of the strongest brain research promoters in the state of
Kentucky. He lobbies legislators, shares education forums with university presidents,
and advised former Kentucky Gov. Patton on his early childhood initiative. He
is an advocate for early childhood development and director of a child-care agency
that serves 3,500 children a day. Hulefeld has been instrumental in the
early childhood components of the Building Better Brains initiative.
Dr. William Bender is a University of Georgia professor that was brought into
the district as a brain compatible teaching consultant. He met with the
steering committee and helped identify some of the strengths and weaknesses of
our initiative. He also provided brain compatible professional development
to every teacher in the district. Dr. Bender's research includes
over 50 published research articles and nine books on a fairly wide range of
topics in psychology and education.
The Impact
The steering committee strives to drive the Building Better Brains initiative
towards research based practices. As a result, a partnership has been formed
with the NKU Mathematical and Statistical Consulting Center. We will collect
data and the statistic team from NKU will evaluate the effectiveness of the initiative.
