Andrea Tompkins

Andrea Tompkins is the educational consultant for Disney Junior’s imaginative animated series “Doc McStuffins.”

Tompkins’ multi-faceted career in media, early childhood education and media literacy spans over 20 years of developing, producing and consulting on award-winning educational television programs for young children, including the popular public television series “The Zula Patrol” and “The Berenstain Bears,” among others.

Throughout her career, Tompkins has helped build innovative partnerships between children’s television series and key groups such as the National Head Start Association and National Science Teachers Association, and has worked on national outreach efforts with museums, libraries, universal preschools, public school districts and departments of education throughout the country.

She has helped develop national curriculum programs and trained thousands of teachers, administrators and parents/families across the U.S. in best practices in early childhood education, inquiry-based teaching and learning and an integrated, cross-curricular approach to education—involving science, math and language arts.

A former preschool teacher and education director, Tompkins led a comprehensive study in 2002 on the effectiveness of media literacy, critical thinking and family engagement outreach curriculum developed for preschool and kindergarten children. Findings were presented at major early education conferences such as PBS Ready to Learn, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and National Head Start Association.

In addition to developing curriculum for children’s television series, Tompkins is a successful educational preschool series producer. She produced the award-winning preschool PBS series “Jay Jay the Jet Plane,” and served as associate producer for the animated adaptation of William Bennett’s “Adventures from the Book of Virtues.” She was associate producer and advisory board leader for “The Puzzle Place,” the first preschool series to address multiculturalism, anti-bias, and diversity.

Tompkins holds an M.A. in Educational Psychology and Technology from the University of Southern California, and a B.A. in English Literature and Certification in Early Childhood Education from UCLA.