Susan B. Neuman is an American educator, researcher, and education policy-maker in early childhood and literacy development. In 2013, she became Professor of Early Childhood and Literacy Education, and Chair of the Department of Teaching and Learning at NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
Neuman previously served as Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education in the United States Department of Education during the George W. Bush Administration and was primarily responsible for initial implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act. Neuman has written or edited 12 books and has written more than 100 peer-reviewed articles on topics such as media literacy, early childhood literacy education and curriculum, family literacy, parent education, and education policy. She has been co-editor of the Journal of Literacy Research, and serves on several editorial boards, including Reading Research Quarterly, Reading Teacher, and Journal of Literacy Research. Neuman has directed or been actively involved with numerous early literacy research organizations and state and national projects. She has received many awards and honors for her research and public service. Neuman's most recent professional endeavors have been directed towards improving the quality of early childhood education services in disadvantaged communities and promoting principles of educational initiatives to help children living in poverty.
Education Neuman graduated from American University in Washington, DC with a BA in religion and philosophy in 1968. She earned her teaching certification in 1969 from University of California, Berkeley. In 1974, Neuman received an MA in Reading Supervision and Administration from California State University, Hayward and an EdD from the University of the Pacific (United States) in Stockton, California in 1977. Neuman was recently awarded an honorary doctoral degree from California State University, Hayward in 2002.
Career California/Connecticut After receiving her BA and teacher certification, Neuman began her professional career in California as a first grade teacher. She later worked as a Title I reading teacher and resource teacher while earning her MA in Reading Supervision and Administration from California State University, Hayward. After receiving her doctorate in education from University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, Neuman taught and conducted research as an associate professor from 1979 to 1986 at Eastern Connecticut State University in Willimantic, Connecticut. During this time, she also taught as visiting faculty at Yale University in New Haven, CT.
Massachusetts From 1984 to 1986, Neuman was a Senior Research Associate for the Educational Development Center (EDC) in Newton, Massachusetts. EDC is a nonprofit organization that designs, delivers and evaluates innovative programs to address urgent challenges in education, health and economic opportunity. While at EDC, Neuman worked on a US Department of Education field-based project focused on the use of microcomputers to facilitate writing development in learning disabled children. She also taught and conducted research as an associate professor at University of Massachusetts Lowell from 1984 to 1990.
Philadelphia In 1990, Susan Neuman became an associate professor of Curriculum, Instruction and Technology in Education and Coordinator of the Reading and Language Arts Graduate Program at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. Her research agenda addressed numerous issues in early literacy and childhood education, including effective instructional practices, literacy as a cultural tool in play,Roskos, K. A., Vukelich, C., Christie, J. F., Enz, B.J., & Neumann, S.B. (1995). Linking Literacy and Play. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. family literacy, and parent education. In addition, Neuman worked with the William Penn Foundation in Philadelphia, as well as the Philadelphia Public Library system to implement and evaluate projects aimed at improving access to books/media in disadvantaged communities (see section on Major Topics of Research below).
Michigan In 2000, Neuman joined the College of Education faculty at University of Michigan at Ann Arbor as Professor of Educational Studies. There, she also served as Director of Dissemination and National Leadership for the Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA), succeeding Elfrieda "Freddy" Hiebert as the director, an educational research organization funded through the US Department of Education. Headquartered at the University of Michigan, CIERA was a consortium of university researchers, teacher educators, teachers, publishers of texts, tests, and technology, professional organizations, schools and school districts across the United States. CIERA's mission was "to improve the reading achievement of America's children by generating and disseminating theoretical, empirical, and practical solutions to persistent problems in the learning and teaching of beginning reading." As director, Neuman worked to bring CIERA's message to a broad range of audiences in education, government and policymaking.
Washington, DC Neuman took a two-year hiatus from her professorship at University of Michigan when she was named US Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education in 2001 by President George W. Bush. In her role as US Assistant Secretary, Neuman managed the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, served as the principal adviser to the secretary of education on all matters related to elementary and secondary education, and initiated implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act. As US Assistant Secretary, Neuman was primarily responsible for directing, coordinating and recommending policy and funding for programs designed to assist state and local agencies to improve achievement of students K to 12. A primary focus of this office is to expand educational opportunities and excellence for all children, particularly those who are educationally or economically disadvantaged, and to increase school accountability for students’ educational progress nationwide.
Neuman held this office from 2001 to 2003, during which time she established the Reading First program and the Early Reading First program, and was responsible for all activities in Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. During her tenure with the US Department of Education, Neuman also established the Early Childhood Professional Development Education Program. The purpose of this program is to promote young children's school readiness and learning outcomes by providing high quality, professional development for early childhood educators and caregivers working in poverty-stricken communities. In 2003, Neuman resigned from her position as US Assistant Secretary and returned to academic life as a professor and researcher. She was a visiting professor at University of Georgetown at the Center on Health and Education, an organization that focused on ways to help realize health equity and achieve educational excellence worldwide.
Michigan Later in 2003, Susan Neuman returned to her position at University of Michigan to teach and conduct research as a full-time Professor of Educational Studies. Dr. Neuman's current projects include evaluation of the Every Child Ready to Read, a program designed to provide public libraries with vital tools to help prepare parents for their critical role as their child's first teacher. She is also involved with the University of Michigan Ready to Learn Project. This project focuses on developing and assessing scientifically based literacy curricula for use in early childhood (pre-K and K) classrooms, online education for teachers and care providers, and resources for parents and families.
Major topics of research
Media and literacy
The role of media and language/literacy development has been an early and ongoing topic of Susan Neuman's research. During the 1980s, Neuman conducted several studies that explored the impact of television on listening, reading achievement and attitudes, as well as specific reading skills such as inferencing, comprehension, and vocabulary acquisition through exposure to captioned text. In the midst of hot debates on the impact of television viewing on reading, Neuman challenged the traditional assumptions regarding the negative relationship between TV and literacy development. In two editions of her book, Literacy in the Television Age: The Myth of the T.V. Effect,Neuman, S. B. (1991). Literacy in the television age: The myth of the TV effect. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex Publishing CorporationNeuman, S. B. (1995). Literacy in the television age: The myth of the TV Effect. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group. Neuman systematically reviewed the developing corpus of research on the relationship between television media and literacy. She concluded that the relationship was complex and like other resources, television was neither "intrinsically" good nor bad. Neuman characterized television viewing as a situated social practice embedded within family life and as such, needed to be carefully examined within the context of a child's environment. Moreover, the role of adult mediators in that environment was a critical determinant of television media's positive or negative impact.
Neuman urged those who would "banish" new technologies and media, to shift focus toward harnessing the power of this media for positive educational purposes. As a powerful disseminator of information, TV contributes to public knowledge and our understanding of social and political current events. Neuman noted that TV is a prime medium for expanding children's background knowledge and exposure to story genres. Access to information from television, radio and other media sources can potentially foster students’ interests in different topics that can foster literacy development. Encounters with multiple perspectives through media can support critical thinking when interacting with other texts. Rather than being in competition, Neuman maintained that the entertainment and educational purposes of television may have a complementary, synergistic relationship for enhancing children's literacy and learning.
Neuman applied this theory of synergy between media and learning to other early literacy projects and research over the course of her career. She has incorporated multimedia resources and technologies into preschool and professional development curricula to provide a "360 degree surround" of information for early childhood education programs. In Multimedia and Literacy Development: Improving Achievement for Young Readers,Bus, A., & Neuman, S. B. (2008). Multimedia and Literacy Development: Improving Achievement for Young Readers. NY: Routledge. Neuman and co-editor Adriana Bus, provided an updated synthesis of evidence-based research that documents young readers’ experiences with evolving multimedia materials. This research suggests how new features of media might enhance children's ability to understand stories and gain in independent reading.
Access to books and media resources