Eleonora Villegas-Reimers
Chair, Teaching & Learning Department
Clinical Professor
Dr. Eleonora Villegas-Reimers is a clinical professor and chair of the Teaching & Learning Department at BU Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Her research and publications reflect her interests in improving teacher professional development, particularly in developing countries, and in values education, particularly democratic values and skills.
Dr. Villegas-Reimers joined the faculty of Wheelock College in 1988 and served as dean of the School of Education and Child Life (2006 to 2009) and acting dean of the Child and Family Studies Division (2004 to 2006). Previously, she served as the coordinator for the Child Development and Early Childhood Program and the Child Development Studies Program. Her experience also includes being a high school teacher, assistant principal, and acting director of the Office of International Education and as an international student advisor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She received the Wheelock College Cynthia Longfellow Teaching Recognition Award in 1990 and the Edward H. Ladd Award for Academic Excellence and Service in 2006.
Dr. Villegas-Reimers has also served as consultant to a number of international organizations such as UNESCO, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Board on International Comparative Studies of the National Research Council, and the Academy for Educational Development. She is a member of the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (DEEC) Board (appointed by Governor Patrick in 2010), and in that role served in the Interdepartmental Education Committee in Massachusetts, and the DEEC Advisory Board. She has also been a consultant to WGBH and a member of the Advisory Board to Families First, a Council Member of the National Parenting Education Network (NPEN) serving on the Professional Preparation and Recognition Committee. She is also a member of the Directory of the Chilean Educational Foundation “Crecer con Todos.”
Dr. Villegas-Reimers’ publications include Teacher Professional Development: An International Review of the Literature (UNESCO), and the Educating for Democratic Citizenship in Latin American High Schools: A cross-national study of high school civic education curriculum. She also published the articles “Education for Democracy: Preparing the next generation of democratic citizens,” and “Teacher Training to Teacher Professional Development in an International Perspective” in the Encyclopedia of Education (Second Edition).
Recent News
- How Can Teacher Preparation Stay Relevant?
- 6 Ways to Use a Master’s in Education (Other Than Being a Teacher)
In the Media
Education
EdD and EdM, Harvard Graduate School of Education
BS, Universidad Catolica Andres Bello (Venezuela)
Selected Publications
(2016) Letter 5: Teachers and Teacher Education in Singapore in Reimers, F. & O'Donnell, E.B. (Eds.), Reflections from a Massachusetts delegation of educators visit to Singapore in October 2015. Cambridge, MA.
(Under review) with F. Reimers. What should teachers know and be able to do? The omission and promise of comparing teacher professional standards in global policy dialogue about education in the 21st century.
(2015) with F. Reimers. Getting to the core and evolving the education reform movement to a system of continuous improvement. New England Journal of Public Policy, 26 (1), Special Issue on Education, 1-14.
(2011) with F. Reimers. Evaluación del Proyecto para desarrollar un sistema regional de evaluación y desarrollo de competencias ciudadanas [Evaluation of the Project to develop a regional system of evaluation and development of citizenship competencies. Bogota, Colombia: SREDECC.
(2009) with 14 other educators members of the English Language Learners sub-committee of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education's Committee on the Proficiency Gap. Halting the Race to the Bottom: Urgent Interventions for the Improvement of the Education of English Language Learners in Massachusetts and Selected Districts.
(2008) Editor of Central and South America Volume of the Greenwood Encyclopedia of Children's Issues Worldwide (a 7-volume encyclopedia).