This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
Elaine Peeler Davis, principal of Montclair High School in New Jersey, one of the premier high schools in the nation, will speak on “How High School Reforms Address the Minority Achievement Gap” 6 p.m. today in the Oechsle Hall auditorium.
Free and open to the public, the talk is part of the McKelvy House Spring Lecture Series, “Our Modern World.” Elizabeth Meade, professor of philosophy at Cedar Crest College, will discuss “The Ethics of Sex Selection” at Oechsle 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 30. Robert M. Seyfarth, professor and head of philosophy at University of Pennsylvania, will talk about “Communication and the Minds of Monkeys” at Oechsle 7 p.m. Monday, May 5.
In a racially and socio-economically integrated community, students of different backgrounds are flourishing together at Montclair High School, which has been attributed to Davis. Her accomplishments led to an appearance on “Late Night with David Letterman.” An experienced educator, administrator, and civic leader, Davis has served the New Jersey State Department of Education as director of planning, professional development leader, and compliance monitor. Prior to her current position, she was an assistant principal at Princeton High School.
Davis has served on numerous boards, most recently the initial board of the Princeton Principals’ Center for the Garden State. She has participated in national forums on educational issues, including the Hechinger Institute in Education and the Media, the Fred Friendly National Forum on Education, the ASCD Conference on Teaching, Learning and Assessment, and the Magnet Schools of America national conference. She served on an Educational Testing Service committee for the national assessment of principals.
Davis was selected as one of the few principals in the country to present before the executive board of the National Education Association due to her five years of work on the NEA Teacher Education Initiative. She gave presentations across the nation on the importance of the recruitment and retention of quality teachers. She has addressed national conferences of the Association of Teacher Educators (and serves on its Executive Board), the American Education Research Association, the National Network for Educational Renewal, and the United States Department of Education. She also has conducted a Congressional staff briefing in Washington, D.C. on the reauthorization of Title V with a delegation of college and university deans.
Since 1962, the McKelvy House Scholars Program has brought together Lafayette students with a wide range of majors and interests to reside in a historic off-campus house and share in intellectual and social activities. Weekly Sunday dinner discussions that engage the students in debate and exchange of ideas that continue long after the meals are over are the hallmark of the program.