Detroit -- Barbara LeRoy has been awarded a Thomas J. Alexander Fellowship through the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), headquartered in Paris. The fellowship will be implemented over the 2015 calendar year. As a fellow, LeRoy will work at OECD headquarters with a team of analysts.

The OECD Directorate for Education launched the fellowship program in 2012 to honor its former director, Thomas J. Alexander. The program seeks to develop and support improvements in education quality and equity through quantitative research, policy making and leadership education. Applicants are expected to use an existing OECD education database to examine policy questions relevant to an international education audience.

Fellowship project
LeRoy will use data from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to examine the equity, participation, accommodations and performance of students with special educational needs in this standardized assessment. The study will be divided into two phases. The first phase will use the most recent PISA results to examine the current status of students with special educational needs by country, student demography and academic performance. Between-student and within-student group comparisons will be made on the impact of learner behaviors and economic, social and cultural status on access, participation and performance. The second phase of the study will examine the policy issues related to the implementation of PISA for students with special educational needs, including equity, access and accommodation considerations.   

Barbara LeRoy
LeRoy holds a doctorate in education from the University of Michigan. She is the director of the Developmental Disabilities Institute at Wayne State University in Detroit. She also holds a graduate faculty position in the University's College of Education. LeRoy's research focuses on the inclusion of students with special needs in regular education, including such related topics as postsecondary transitions, family and individual quality of life, community inclusion and self-determination. She is a governor-appointed member of the Michigan Developmental Disabilities Council, a board member of the United States International Council on Disabilities and Rehabilitation International, and a member of the Advisory Panel to the 2013 State of the World's Children with Disabilities (UNICEF).

Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution offering more than 370 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to nearly 28,000 students.