Beatriz Chu Clewell is a principal research associate and director of the Program for Evaluation and Equity Research at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. During her 25-year professional career, she has conducted research on factors that influence positive educational outcomes for girls and women, minority students, limited English proficient and immigrant students, and low-income students. She is a coauthor of the book Breaking the Barriers: Helping Female and Minority Students Succeed in Mathematics and Science, as well as several book chapters and journal articles.
A recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Educational Research Association, Dr. Clewell was born and raised in the Republic of Panama. She has taught at both the middle school and university levels in Honduras and Venezuela and credits her middleschool teaching experiences with inspiring in her a lifelong interest in the education of low-income children. She holds a B.A. in English literature and an M.S. and Ph.D. in educational policy, planning, and analysis from Florida State University.
Patricia B. Campbell is president of Campbell-Kibler Associates, Inc., in Groton, Massachusetts. Dr. Campbell has been involved in educational research and evaluation with a focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education and issues of race/ethnicity, gender, and disability since the mid-1970s. A former professor of research, measurement, and statistics at Georgia State University, she has written more than 100 publications, including cowriting The AAUW Report: How Schools Shortchange Girls. Her varied professional activities include conducting educational evaluation and research training in South Africa and Uganda and serving as an expert witness in the sex discrimination case brought against the Citadel.
Dr. Campbell received the Betty Vetter Research Award from Women in Engineering Programs & Advocates Network and the Willystine Goodsell Award from the American Educational Research Association. She holds a B.S. in mathematics from LeMoyne College, an M.S. in instructional technology from Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. in teacher education, also from Syracuse University.
Lesley Perlman is the deputy director of the Center for Khmer Studies, a nonprofit nongovernmental organization based in Siem Reap, Cambodia, that works to rebuild the higher education sector in Cambodia and offers fellowship and research programs for foreign and Cambodian scholars and researchers. She previously worked as the senior research associate at Campbell-Kibler Associates, conducting research and evaluation for five years in educational projects examining gender and race equity in mathematics and science. Ms. Perlman cowrote Upping the Numbers: Using Research-Based Decision Making to Increase Diversity in the Quantitative Disciplines and Engagement, Capacity and Continuity: A Trilogy for Student Success, as well as other publications. She holds a B.S. in biology and women’s studies from Boston College and an M.A. in sustainable international development from Brandeis University.
Good Schools in Poor Neighborhoods: Defying Demographics, Achieving Success, by Beatriz Chu Clewell and Patricia B. Campbell, with Lesley Perlman, is available from the Urban Institute Press (paper, 6" x 9", 280 pages, ISBN 978-0-87766-742-1, $29.50).
