Jody Underwood

Jody served on the Croydon School Board from 2010-2023. During this time, she shepherded a bill through the legislature that clarifies the law to allow private schools to be included in town tuitioning agreements, completed the withdrawal from an AREA agreement, and oversaw the separation of Croydon from SAU43 (with Newport) and started their own, very small, SAU99. Jody has written research papers about how New Hampshire uses tax dollars for private schools and on how town tuitioning works in New Hampshire and New England. She has delivered presentations about town tuitioning and school choice around the state. Recently retired from her profession as a learning scientist, Dr. Underwood conducted design, development, and research around the use of technology for learning and assessment. She and her husband moved to New Hampshire in 2007, where they live on a large off-the-grid property with their dog.

open book window reading original Photo by Ioann-Mark Kuznietsov on Unsplash

How the Pandemic Shutdown Affected Student Performance: Vermont (part 3 of 8)

July 16, 2024September 17, 2023 Jody Underwood

The prevailing narrative is that the pandemic shutdowns affected student performance in public schools. As seen in our prior two articles, data from the Croydon, NH Village School, and statewide data from the New Hampshire Student Assessment System (NHSAS), the National Assessment of Educational Progress test do not support this narrative.

Did the Pandemic Shutdown Affect Student Performance in NH? Part 2 of 8

September 14, 2023 Jody Underwood

The opening article of this series, published in the September 9 edition of the Eagle Times and in Granite Grok, examined test results from the Croydon Village School in light of comments made by its principal, Nicole Lackie, who also shared her belief that schools do not know how to teach reading.

Did the Pandemic Shutdown Affect Student Performance? Part 1 of 8

September 11, 2023 Jody Underwood

At the June 6 meeting of the Croydon School Board, Associate Principal Nicole Lackie presented the results of Croydon Village School’s (CVS) end-of-year diagnostic assessment.

The Right to Read

August 6, 2023August 5, 2023 Jody Underwood

There’s a new idea that’s being thrown around these days — the science of reading. I cringe at the phrase because it sounds like just another gimmick to fix things in schools, but the research actually seems to be pretty good.

The Government Is Not the Parent of Children, nor Should It Be.

August 4, 2023April 21, 2023 Jody Underwood

Dear House Education Committee, I attended the public hearing for SB 272. As you know, people threw around examples of why SB 272 is good and why it’s bad.

Did COVID Shutdowns Affect NH Student Performance?

August 4, 2023April 11, 2023 Jody Underwood

A popular narrative is that the COVID pandemic shutdowns made things worse for public schools, so we should cut them some slack. But there are two problems with this.

Introduction to the School District Governance Association

August 4, 2023August 27, 2019 Jody Underwood

Do you feel in the dark about what your responsibilities are as a school board or budget committee member? We can help.

Another choice for School Choice – ‘Town Tuitioning

August 4, 2023January 25, 2019 Jody Underwood

January 20-26 is National School Choice Week. That makes it a great time to learn more about opportunities for school choice here in New Hampshire. And one of those opportunities is something called ‘town tuitioning’, which is relatively unknown for something that’s been going on for more than a century. Some interesting facts about town … Read more