Deborah Loewenberg Ball
Biography
|
Research on Teaching, Teacher Education, and Mathematics Education Ph.D., Curriculum, Teaching, and Educational Policy, Michigan State University M.S., Teacher Education, Michigan State University M.S., French and Elementary Education, Michigan State University |
Deborah Loewenberg Ball is the William H. Payne Collegiate Professor of Education at the University of Michigan, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, a research professor in the Institute for Social Research, and the director of TeachingWorks.
She taught elementary school for more than 15 years and continues to teach children every summer. Ball’s research focuses on the practice of teaching, using elementary mathematics as a critical context for investigating the challenges of helping children work collectively, and on leveraging the power of teaching to disrupt patterns of racism, marginalization, and inequity. Ball is an expert on the demands of teaching and the imperatives for teachers’ professional education.
Ball has authored more than 200 articles and book chapters and has lectured and made major presentations around the world. She has also developed distinctive collections of video records of practice that are broadly used to make teaching practice visible.
Her research has been recognized with several awards and honors, and she has served on national and international commissions and panels focused on the improvement of education. She served as president of the American Educational Research Association from 2017 to 2018 and as dean of the University of Michigan School of Education from 2005 to 2016. Ball has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Education. She is also a fellow of the American Mathematical Society and the American Educational Research Association.
Deborah Ball was a member of the NSB class of 2012 – 2018. She was appointed to the NSB class of 2018 – 2024 in January 2023.