Our Team
Nancy Safer, managing research scientist, has over 30 years of experience in special education with expertise in program development and policy research and analysis related to services for children and youth with disabilities. She is co-project director of the Access Center and co-principal investigator of the National Center on Student Progress Monitoring funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. She also provides special education expertise for the National Longitudinal Study of No Child Left Behind.
Dr. Safer is the former executive director of the Council for Exceptional Children where she provided, for almost 10 years, strategic and operational leadership in the management and coordination of the organization of more than 50,000 special educators, related professionals, and families. At CEC, Dr. Safer provided conceptual leadership for the ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education, the OSEP-ERIC Special Project, the ILIAD and ASPIIRE Partnership Projects, and the National Clearinghouse for Professions in Special Education. She also served as the Principal Investigator during the initial phases of the Partnerships Projects and the National Clearinghouse for Professions in Special Education, and she conceptualized the highly acclaimed Research Connections.
Dr. Safer is also the former director of the Division of Educational Services at the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs in which she was responsible for the Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities Program and the Preschool Formula Grants Program, and eight discretionary grants programs. During her tenure as Director of the Division of Educational Services, Dr. Safer provided oversight for the development of the Federal technical assistance network. She also served as the branch chief responsible for the Regional Resource Centers, and as Chief of the Directed Research Branch where she conceptualized the initial Research Projects Database.
Prior to joining the Department of Education, she was a researcher on Project Prime, Director of Project IEP, and a special education teacher in the Philadelphia Public Schools. She is widely published including directing three annual reports to Congress on the implementation of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act and many other publications related to early childhood, special education, inclusion and other topics.
