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About this Site

The PBS Guide to Going to School delivers practical strategies and useful insights to help parents guide their kids through school.

Please Note:The information in this Web site is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice. Please consult your school administrator, healthcare provider, school guidance counselor, and/or pediatrician for recommendations about diagnosing or treating psychological issues that may arise related to school and your child.

This Web site is a co-production between Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) and Content Inventions.

OPB has produced major Web sites for PBS.org, as well as enhanced TV prototypes, books, and extensive promotion and education outreach campaigns for PBS primetime programs. Content Inventions, an educational media consulting firm, works in partnership with OPB to offer creative editorial services on numerous PBS Web and TV projects.

The Team

Marion Rice, Ed.D., Executive Producer

Marion Rice has more than 15 years of experience in educational media development, and a doctorate in education, focusing on educational media. She is responsible for a number of integrated media and education/outreach projects at OPB, including design and production of content for parents, teachers, general audiences and kids. She has served as the executive producer and creative director for many other PBS projects including the PBS Parents Guides to Talking with Kids: Talking with Kids About War and Violence and Talking with Kids About Health, The New Heroes and History Detectives Kids.

Josh Daniel, Executive Producer, Executive Editor/Writer

Josh Daniel is the executive editor-writer of the PBS Parents Guide to Raising and Understanding Boys Web site and brings over fifteen years of experience in the production of online, print, and television educational media. He has served as Executive Producer-Writer-Editor of numerous sites produced in association with OPB including the PBS Parents Guide to Going to School Web site and the award-winning PBS Parents Guide to Talking with Kids Web series; and served as Senior Writer for OPB's History Detectives Kids Web site. Other credits include Executive Producer-Editor of I was wondering.org, a kids Web site for the National Academy of Sciences, and the Early Learning Web site for KCTS. Josh is the president of Content Inventions, and has served as consulting executive Web editor for Oregon Public Broadcasting, senior editorial advisor to PBS Parents, senior editor for Sesame Workshop online, editorial director for Nickjr.com, and online editor for Time Warner's Parenttime.com.

John Kin, Web Developer

Karen Sideman, Site Designer

Sheila Sweeny Higginsonk, Writer

Margot Chase, Editor

Tyson Mangelsdorf, Illustrator

 

Content Advisors:

The information in this Web site was researched and developed with input from an esteemed board of expert advisors. We wish to thank and gratefully acknowledge the advisors to this project.

Senior Advisors:

Lawrence Cohen, Ph.D.

Lawrence Cohen, the author of Playful Parenting, is a licensed psychologist specializing in children's play and play therapy, based in Boston Massachusetts. He is co-author of Best Friends, Worst Enemies and Mom, They're Teasing Me and a columnist for Nick Jr. Magazine.

Diane Levin, Ph.D.

A professor of education at Wheelock College in Boston, Diane Levin is the author of numerous books including Teaching Young Children in Violent Times: Building a Peaceable Classroom, and Remote Control Childhood? Combating the Hazards of Media Culture. Diane was advisor on the PBS Parents Guide to Talking with Kids about War & Violence.

Michael Thompson, Ph.D.

Author and psychologist Michael Thompson is co-author of The New York Times bestseller Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys. He is the author of Speaking of Boys: Answers to the Most-Asked Questions About Raising Sons, and co-author of Best Friends/Worst Enemies: Understanding the Social Lives of Children. Michael was advisor on the PBS Parents Guide to Talking with Kids about Everything and is featured in the upcoming PBS documentary, Raising Cain.

Advisors

Susan Becker, M.Ed.

Susan Becker has a master’s in education from Montclair State University, with a concentration in learning disabilities. Currently, she works with K-5 students at the Rand Family School in Montclair, New Jersey.

Patrick Burk, Ph.D.

After 26 years in administration for Portland Public Schools, Patrick Burk currently serves as chief policy officer in the Oregon Department of Education.

Linda Lendman, M.S.W., L.C.S.W.

Linda Lendman has worked as a public school social worker for over 16 years in New Jersey, and is the family coordinator at the Rand School in Montclair.

Dalton Miller-Jones, Ph.D.

Dalton Miller-Jones earned his doctorate in developmental psychology from Cornell University. He has taught at Cornell where he helped establish the Africana Studies and Research Center, and has taught at Portland State University since 1991.

Nancy L. Roser, Ph.D.

Nancy L. Roser, co-editor of Book Talk and Beyond Wand Adventuring with Books, is a professor of language and literacy studies, the Flawn Professor of early childhood, and distinguished teaching professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

 

Special thanks to Stephen Mauritz, principal, Hallinan Elementary School.