Carol Copple received her doctorate in human development from Cornell University and joined the faculty of Louisiana State University. As senior research psychologist at the Educational Testing Service, she directed a prekindergarten program for enhancing young children's thinking skills and wrote Educating the Young Thinker: Classroom Strategies for Cognitive Growth with Irving Sigel and Ruth Saunders. At the National Association for the Education of Young Children from 1993 to 2010, Dr. Copple headed the publications program, authored numerous books, and played a leading role in developing the association's position statements and education initiatives. She is now an early education consultant based in Nashville, Tennessee.