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DR. KIMBERLY SCHONERT-REICHL
Associate Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, and Special Education, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia (UBC)

Dr. Schonert-Reichl began her professional career first as a middle school teacher and then as a secondary school teacher at an alternate school for “at risk” adolescents. She then went on and received her M.A. from the University of Chicago and her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa. At UBC since 1991, Dr. Schonert-Reichl teaches courses in child and adolescent development to preservice teachers and advanced level graduate courses in the areas of social and emotional development of children, research methods, and risk and resiliency.

Dr. Schonert-Reichl’s research examines children’s social, emotional, and moral  development, with a focus on understanding the development of children’s positive human traits, such as empathy, compassion, optimism, and prosocial behaviours. She is especially interested in identifying the underlying processes and mechanisms associated with the promotion of children’s social and emotional development in schools and other educational settings (e.g., after school programs). She is also investigating the relation of children’s biological processes, such as stress reactivity and self-regulation, to social behaviours in school and classroom settings.

JOANNE SCHROEDER
Community Development Manager, Human Early Learning Partnership; National Lead Fellow, Council for Early Child Development

Joanne Schroeder studied social work at the University of British Columbia. After working for many years in the child welfare system, she has more recently, focused her work in the areas of community development and strategic planning. 

Joanne has played a foundational role as Community Development Manager in the translation of HELP’s early child development research to communities.  She travels extensively throughout British Columbia and increasingly nationally and internationally, prioritizing the need to build local relationships, share knowledge, and link communities to each other and to the research.

She is the lead author of the Communities for Children: A Toolkit for Action recently published by the Human Early Learning Partnership and a contributor to a variety of other publications and resources used by HELP for knowledge translation.

She is the National Lead Fellow for the Council for Early Child Development and as part of that role manages the Pan-Canadian EDI initiative.

TRACY SPANNIER
Revelstoke Early Child Development Committee Coordinator

As Early Child Development Committee Coordinator, Tracy prepared the Early Childhood Development Strategic Plan and facilitates the work of the committee. Tracy is an active member of the Early Childhood Development Committee, the North Okanagan Success by Six and Children First Council of Partners and chair of the Revelstoke Literacy Action Committee.  Tracy is also a literacy coordinator, Mother Goose facilitator, and a Roots of Empathy facilitator and mentor.

Tracy is a volunteer at her children's school.  She believes passionately that everyone has something to teach and her two sons teach her something new each day.

SHIRLEY-ANN TEAL
Peel District School Board

Shirley-Ann Teal has over 32 years experience in education as a teacher, consultant, vice-principal, principal and superintendent.  Currently her portfolio includes day to day supervision of twenty-two schools K-8 and liaison with early years partners and community organizations within the Peel District School Board.  Experiences include supervision of special education programs, chairing the Board of Directors for a child care cooperative and teaching at the junior kindergarten level.

DR. ROBIN WILLIAMS
Medical Officer of Health, Niagara Region

A pediatrician and a public health physician, Dr. Williams has been the Medical Officer of Health for Niagara Region since 1995. A native of Niagara Falls, throughout her career she has remained dedicated to improving the health status of all residents, with a special focus on children.  Dr. Williams is a Clinical Professor, Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University and is Chair of the Council for Early Child Development and in that role participated in the development of the Early Years 2 Study.

Dr. Williams leads a staff of over 600 public health professionals with a budget of $61.8 million.

In her capacity as Medical Officer of Health, her responsibilities include areas as diverse as family health, communicable disease control, food safety, chronic disease prevention, and Niagara Emergency Medical Services (ambulance and dispatch).

MARIA Y. M. YAU
Educational Researcher, Toronto District School Board

Maria Y. M. Yau has been associated with the Toronto District School Board (formerly Toronto Board of Education) for over 20 years as an education researcher. Her research portfolios cover a wide range of educational issues, including equity in education related to immigrant and refugee populations, students from diverse racial and language backgrounds, English as a Second Language learners, and economically disadvantaged children. Maria has been involved in the EDI initiative (formerly known as Readiness to Learn Project) sinces its inception in 1997, when a large number of Toronto schools participated in developing, field testing, and implementing the EDI at the system level. Aside from collecting the EDI data, Maria has conducted research in this area to understand the school readiness level of young children from different backgrounds, and to track their elementary school performance over the last 10 years.