Penny Bishop, Ed.D., associate dean of the College of Education and Social Services at the University of Vermont, is the recipient of the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) John H. Lounsbury Award for Distinguished Service in Middle Level Education.
The AMLE stated that the award is "the highest offered by AMLE, and was established to recognize individuals whose scholarship, service, leadership, and contributions to the theory and practice of the middle level education ideal have been extraordinary. For more than 20 years Bishop has been an active middle level education advocate. A scholar of middle level education research, leadership, teaching, and service, Bishop's work has made a significant impact in Vermont, nationally, and internationally."
In 2001 Bishop led the effort to launch UVM's middle level teacher education program, which is recognized as a Program of Distinction by the National Council of Accreditation of Teacher Educators. She received the Outstanding Middle Level Teacher Education award from the National Association of Professors of Middle Level Education. As the co-director of the Middle Grades Institute, now in its 22nd year, she leads a yearly event providing personalized professional development for about 200 educators. Bishop was a founding member and co-chair of the Vermont Middle Level Task Force. In 2010 she received the Jackie Gribbons Leadership Award from the Vermont Women in Higher Education.
“This is an international recognition of the well-evidenced impact that Penny’s extraordinary contributions have had on middle-level learners, teachers, and the field itself. This is well-deserved recognition of the durable impact of her scholarship and intellectual leadership in the field,” said Scott Thomas, dean of the College of Education and Social Services.
With funds from the Richard E. and Deborah L. Tarrant Foundation, Bishop developed the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education (TIIE) at the University of Vermont in 2010, partnering with 28 middle schools to improve the education of young adolescents through technology-rich learning and research. TIIE has plans to extend its outreach to 60 schools throughout the state. Overall she is responsible for external funds and gifts of more than $13 million to improve education in middle grade schools.
Bishop was awarded a Sir Ian Axford Policy Fellowship from the New Zealand government, informing teacher education as she served on the Middle Years Steering Committee for the New Zealand Ministry of Education. To promote cross-cultural understanding and further her research in New Zealand, she developed a course that sends graduate students to New Zealand for homestay and school-based visitations, and an undergraduate exchange program sending students for semester-long internships in schools.
"Dr. Bishop's work has shown that the middle school years are crucial for emotional and academic development and require pedagogy based on brain research and current theory about adolescent development," said Cynthia Gerstl-Pepin, Ph.D., associate dean of the College of Education and Social Services.
She has written five books, more than 40 articles and chapters, and serves as a manuscript reviewer for the AMLE publications Research in Middle Level Education Online and Middle School Journal. She also is founder and co-editor of Middle Grades Review, a peer-reviewed scholarly journal focused on schooling for young adolescents. Bishop has served as chair and member of the AMLE Research Advisory Committee, delivered keynote presentations around the world, and served in a multitude of roles for the American Educational Research Association's Middle Level Education Research Special Interest Group.
John Downes, Ed.D, associate director of TIIE, said he has "witnessed Penny's consistent effort to understand her students, solicit their needs and interests, support them in their lows and celebrate their highs. She commits the same effort to her colleagues, modeling these values in her collegial relations just as she inspires her trainees to address the affective needs of the young adolescents they ultimately serve."