Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education's Office of Safe and Supportive Schools (OSSS), the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments (NCSSLE) is comprised of experts with direct experience in addressing the challenges of improving school climate and the conditions for learning at the school, district, State, and federal levels.
The Center is operated by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) in collaboration with the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL); Lux Consulting Group; National Center for School Mental Health; Sanametrix; Silver Gate Group, Youth Catalytics, Dr. Abraham Wandersman, and Dr. Catherine Bradshaw.
The Center works with a research to practice advisory group to address high priority issues.
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Safe and Supportive Schools
- Bryan Williams, Director, OSSS
- Carlette KyserPegram, Group Lead, OSSS
- Nicole White, Content Lead for NCSSLE, Program Officer for the Project Prevent Grant Program
- Amy Banks, Program Officer for the School Based Mental Health Services Program
- Deirdra Hilliard, Grant Manager for the Trauma Recovery Demonstration Grant Program
- Tawanda Avery, Program Officer for the Mental Health Service Professionals Grant Program
Center Leadership
- Greta Colombi, Director (AIR), gcolombi@air.org
- Megan Gildin, Deputy Director (AIR), mgildin@air.org
- Anne Diffenderffer, Lead on Data and Surveys (AIR), adiffenderffer@air.org
- Melanie Goodman, Lead on Training (Youth Catalytics), mgoodman@youthcatalytics.org
- Wehmah Jones, Lead on Product Development (AIR), wjones@air.org
- Devon LaPoint, Lead on Communications (AIR), dlapoint@air.org
- Jamie Muskopf, Lead on Higher Education (Lux), jamie.muskopf@luxcg.com
- Kelly Wells, Lead on TA Support (AIR), kwells@air.org
Research to Practice Advisory Group
- Catherine Bradshaw, School of Education and Human Development, University of Virginia (Lead)
- Ron Avi Astor, Luskin School of Public Affairs, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
- Clayton Cook, Educational Psychology, School of Education, University of Minnesota
- Mark T. Greenberg, College of Health and Human Development, Penn State University
- Nancy Guerra, School of Social Ecology, University of California Irvine (UCI)
- Maury Nation, Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University
- David Osher, AIR
- Karen Pittman, KP Catalyst
- Mark Weist, Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina