An experienced Advisory Board helped guide and evaluate the vision, pedagogy, and content of Pokémon Learning League.

Jane Ashdown – Language Arts Curriculum Expert

Former Vice Chair, Department of Teaching and Learning, New York University
Former Clinical Associate Professor, Early Childhood and Elementary Education
Former Director, The Ruth Horowitz Center for Teacher Development

Ashdown began her career in teaching at primary schools in London, then attended the University of Pennsylvania to earn her doctorate.  Her research interests include literacy education and teacher development.  Previously, she served as Project Director and Principal Investigator for the NYU Reading Recovery Project, an innovative early literacy program that has been widely adopted in the New York City public schools.  In her role at New York University, she supervised graduate and undergraduate student teachers at public schools in the New York City area.  Dr. Ashdown joined the Office of Academic Affairs at The City University of New York in December, 2007. Her responsibilities there include system-wide teacher education initiatives.

Kristin Redington Bennett – Math & Science Curriculum Expert

Assistant Professor, Wake Forest University

Bennett teaches Educational Psychology, Math Methods, Teaching Students with Special Needs and Environmental Geography at Wake Forest University.  Her research centers on teacher education, the environment as a curriculum-integrating context and assessment.  Bennett earned her doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.  She has published several articles in scholarly journals such as Teacher Education Quarterly, Journal of Environmental Education, Environmental Education, Communication, Science Scope, Science Activities, and Green Teacher.  Bennett has presented at several international and national conferences, including the American Educational Research Association and the North American Association for Environmental Education.

Joseph Blatt – Children's Digital Media Expert

Lecturer in Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Director of the Technology, Innovation, and Education Program.

A longtime lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Blatt teaches a new course in association with Sesame Workshop, the creators of Sesame Street.  In “Informal Learning for Children,” students learn how to conceive, research and design major media projects that advance the education and health of young children and their families.  As a producer, Blatt creates series and specials for national public television.  Blatt has served as executive producer of Scientific American Frontiers, and has produced and directed several episodes of NOVA.  He created BreakThrough, a documentary series about the accomplishments of contemporary African-American, Latino and Native American scientists and engineers.  Blatt also has produced many programs on mathematics, including Surprises in Mind, a documentary about children’s natural capacity for mathematical thinking.

William L. Burrall, Jr. - School District Representative

Coordinator of Instructional Technology, Marshall County Schools, West Virginia

Burrall has 34 years of experience in education with certifications in French, Social Studies and Middle Childhood Education.  He earned a master’s degree (with 45 credit hours) in Education Administration.  Burrall is a former IBM National Technology Teacher of the Year and former Christa McAuliffe Fellow.  He serves on Technology & Learning magazine’s Editorial Advisory Board and was featured in the publication as one of the top 22 professionals considered to be the current brain trust in the education technology industry.  He also serves on Gov. Joe Manchin's Advisory Council for Educational Technology in West Virginia.  He has authored several classroom projects, one of which received awards from ISTE, the Department of Pedagogy, State of Geneva, Switzerland, and the Smithsonian Computer World Awards Program.  This project is archived in the Smithsonian Museum as a contribution of information technology (Education and Academia Category) impacting the history of U.S. society.

Laura Parker Roerden - Parent and Educational Non-Profit Representative

Consultant

Roerden is a teacher, writer and curriculum developer.  She holds a master’s of education degree in Teaching and Curriculum from Harvard University.  As the director of publications for Educators for Social Responsibility, she edited School Age Adventures in Peacemaking by Lisa Furlong and William J. Kriedler, Linking Up by Sarah Pirtle, and Teaching Young Children in Violent Times by Diane E. Levin.  She is the author of Net Lessons: Web-based Projects for Your Classroom (O'Reilly and Associates).  Roerden has designed educational outreach projects for the After School Association, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Basketball Association, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, AT&T, Peter Yarrow Productions, and the Resolving Conflict Creatively Program, among others.  She heads her own educational consulting firm, Barnstorm Consulting, in Boston.