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Ruth McKenna, contact for west of the Mississippi
Stephen Hamilton, contact for east of the Mississippi
Jonathan Frank, Senior Program Associate
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Jon Frank works with WestEd’s Comprehensive School Assistance Program (CSAP) to help schools develop accountability systems that result in improved instructional practices and increased student learning. His work with the Local Accountability Professional Development Series (LAPDS) has been with districts in Mississippi, Arizona, Tennessee, and California. He also works with districts in creating long-term strategic plans.
Frank's primary focus is to assist district teams of stakeholders plan actions that directly benefit students. In addition, he is the lead support provider in school districts identified by the State of California as requiring intense interventions districtwide. This support includes intensive coaching of district administrators, ensuring that policies and commitment of resources support improvement, and providing coaching and support for the district superintendent.
Prior to working with WestEd, Frank’s 34 years in education included serving as a classroom teacher, a principal, an assistant superintendent, and a superintendent for five years at the John Swett Unified School District and for 10 years at the Lafayette Elementary School District. Throughout his administrative career, Frank has continued to teach preservice graduate teacher candidates in his specialty of mathematics and science instruction. He also continues to provide professional development and training for administrators through teaching graduate courses on developing leadership and how to affect long-term change in a school or district’s culture.
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Stephen Hamilton, Director, District and School Services, Learning Innovations
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WestEd's Steve Hamilton supports comprehensive school improvement efforts, working with districts, state agencies, and institutions of higher education.
Hamilton serves as Director of District and School Services for Learning Innovations at WestEd. His recent work in formative assessment and local accountability systems has resulted in increased school and district use of formative and benchmark assessments and data to inform decisions about school programs and instructional practice. As a result of his work in Massachusetts and a state-funded middle school mathematics initiative, 10 districts are now using district and school assessments aligned to state frameworks (standards) to locally measure student academic gains. The Northeast and Islands Regional Educational Laboratory is studying these district local accountability practices to assess student achievement impact.
Hamilton also serves as Coordinator for Learning Innovations' work with the New England Comprehensive Center (NECC), NECC liaison to the Massachusetts Department of Education, and staff member for WestEd's Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center. His previous experience with Comprehensive Centers involved supporting and implementing Title I schoolwide programs and No Child Left Behind school improvement efforts.
His work as Regional Implementation Director for various Comprehensive School Reform initiatives resulted in New Bedford Taylor School being named by the state of Massachusetts as a "Commonwealth Compass School" for exemplary student academic improvement gains.
In addition to his technical assistance and research expertise, Hamilton has extensive experience in evaluation. He served as primary evaluator for several National Science Foundation-funded studies, including a three-year teacher enhancement initiative. Current evaluation studies focus on the use of district interim or benchmark assessments to inform practice and improve student achievement outcomes.
Hamilton’s extensive experience in school reform led him to coauthor Assessment Continuum of Schoolwide Improvement Outcomes: Implementing the Components of Systemic Schoolwide Improvement.
A member of WestEd's staff since 1997, Hamilton previously served as an elementary school principal and teacher, and director of an early childhood education program. He also worked with university professors, coordinating seminars for elementary school preservice teachers.
He has served as an elected member, finance chair, and chairperson on school committees in Vermont and Massachusetts. Along with experience and success in passing school budgets, negotiating contracts, and regionalizing a school district, Hamilton developed a standards-based superintendent evaluation informed by school committee goals and an established district vision of desired outcomes.
He received a BS in education and an MA in educational administration from the University of Vermont.
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Nicholas Hardy, Senior Program Associate
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Senior Program Associate Nick Hardy helps New England departments of education develop statewide systems of support for low-performing schools.
Hardy provides technical assistance and professional development in data analysis and dialogue, accountability and assessment, and facilitation to state departments of education, districts, and schools in the Northeast. A member of Learning Innovations (LI) at WestEd, Hardy works closely with LI's partner, the New England Comprehensive Center (NECC). In 2007, with Hardy's assistance, NECC sponsored the first regional symposium on support for low-performing schools, attended by state leaders throughout New England. NECC will hold a similar event in 2008.
Hardy also has worked with NECC to help schools in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire increase their student test scores. In 2007, he helped NECC design and host a four-day literacy and leadership institute that engaged more than 20 school district teams in New Hampshire.
He currently is working with one Massachusetts middle school to define its own set of essential standards, develop a common understanding of the critical components of those standards, and then develop frequent formative assessments for classroom teachers to use as they adjust their instruction.
Prior to joining WestEd in 2002, Hardy served more than 25 years as an elementary school principal and a teacher of middle school language arts. He also served as the Executive Director of the New Hampshire affiliate of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). Under his direction, ASCD dramatically increased its membership and influence in the state of New Hampshire. As a result of his ASCD accomplishments, Hardy was presented with a New Hampshire Excellence in Education Award in 2004.
He received a BA in English literature from Boston University, an MA in teaching from the University of New Hampshire, and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in educational administration from Northeastern University.
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Mary Peterson, Project Director, DistrictsMovingUp
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As a Senior Program Associate for WestEd's Comprehensive School Assistance Program, Mary Peterson helps schools, districts, and state departments of education improve teaching and learning.
Through her work with WestEd's California Comprehensive Center and Southwest Comprehensive Center, Peterson helps state education agencies (SEAs) throughout the Southwest implement the No Child Left Behind Act. She helped the California Department of Education develop and pilot California's District Assistance and Intervention Teams (DAIT) project. In addition, she worked with SEA staff in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico to design and implement their respective statewide systems of support for schools and districts.
Peterson is a member of WestEd's DistrictsMovingUp, a comprehensive, coherent, and intensive team-based process that ensures improved student achievement. Peterson and colleagues work collaboratively with district stakeholders to provide customized, research-based solutions that meet the needs of districts.
Prior to joining WestEd in 2006, Peterson was Statewide Director of Teacher Education, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Dean of Faculty at Sierra Nevada College. From 1994 to 2000, she served as Nevada's Superintendent of Public Instruction. During her tenure, the state developed and implemented statewide academic content standards, as well as a more comprehensive assessment and accountability system. Previously, she held other leadership positions in the Nevada Department of Education, including Deputy for Instructional, Research and Evaluative Services, and Statewide Director of Title I.
Peterson has served on the Board of Directors of the Council of Chief State School Officers and WestEd. She also was a State Commissioner to the Education Commission of the States. She began her career teaching junior and senior high school English, and was principal of a small, private K-8 school in rural Idaho. In 1997 and 2003, Peterson was awarded the Nevada Women's Fund Woman of Achievement Award, and in 1996 the Outstanding Woman Award by the Nevada Attorney General's Office.
Peterson received a BA in English from Carleton College and an MA in teaching from Duke University. Her education also includes doctoral studies in cultural foundations of education/educational administration from the University of Utah, where she was inducted into the graduate Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.
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Joseph Sassone, LAPDS Project Director
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Joseph Sassone joined WestEd's Local Accountability Professional Series (LAPDS) to help build effective school intervention systems and extend the agency's services in accountability.
As LAPDS Project Director, Sassone helps school districts meet the accountability requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Sassone has helped districts throughout the United States blend research-based instructional support with data-management technology to create a customized local assessment and accountability system. District educators, through LAPDS, learn how to accurately guide and track learning — demonstrably using student data to improve their schools.
Sassone's work has been a key component in helping schools and districts raise student achievement results on state assessments. He currently provides consultation to several districts in Arizona, California, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont. With the help of Sassone, LAPDS was implemented in 2007 at Noralto Elementary School in North Sacramento (CA) School District. The fifth-grade teachers fully implemented the reteach and enrichment classes with common formative assessments from January 2007 to June 2008. Subsequently, the school's student achievement results jumped significantly past the state average in English language arts. In addition, proficient and advanced students in English language arts increased from 26% to 52% for all fifth graders on the Californian Standards Test.
Prior to joining WestEd in 2006, Sassone served as Assistant Superintendent of Vail (Arizona) Unified School District, an LAPDS client. The collaboration between Sassone and WestEd resulted in Vail fully implementing the district accountability system and moving student performance, districtwide, from the lowest in the Tucson Valley to the highest. Vail was given special recognition by the Arizona Department of Education for exemplary growth in student performance in just four years. In over three years, this initiative moved a rapidly growing school district (8,200 students) from mediocrity to one of the highest performing school districts in Arizona.
Prior to becoming Assistant Superintendent, Sassone served as the district's Director of Human Resources, recruiting more than 100 teachers per year for a rapidly growing school district. He also implemented a robust new teacher induction program with cognitive coaching in early literacy, math, and essential elements of instruction. Throughout his career at Vail, Sassone was an instructor for preservice undergraduate teacher candidates in his specialty of classroom instruction. He also taught a graduate-level course in leadership for prospective building principals.
Previously, Sassone served as an Assistant Principal in the King Park (New York) Central School District, where he implemented a districtwide new teacher induction and cognitive coaching program. He also was Assistant Principal of an early learning center, high school, and middle school, and administrator in charge of the English as a second language program districtwide.
In addition, Sassone served as school counselor in the Northport-East Northport (New York) Union Free School District, where he implemented programs for students at risk of failure and the first new teacher and cognitive coaching program. He also was special education teacher and counselor for the Culpeper (Virginia) School District, and served as an Adjunct Professor at both Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona South.
He is a member of the Para Los Niños Elementary Charter School Advisory Board, Los Angeles. He presents regularly at various conferences nationwide and has served as keynote speaker on several occasions.
In 2005, Sassone received the Golden Bell Award by the Arizona School Board Association for District Academic Achievement and the Spot Light Success Award for Using Data to Drive Instruction by the Arizona Department of Education.
Sassone received a BA in human relations from St. Joseph's College and an MS in school counseling, and a Professional Degree in administration and leadership from Long Island University.
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Sharon Tucker, Associate Director
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A Senior Research Associate for WestEd's Comprehensive School Assistance Program, Sharon Tucker specializes in school- and district-wide improvements that increase education opportunities for students.
She develops workshops and provides technical assistance on curriculum standards, assessment, and accountability. In addition, she was selected as an External Entity lead by several California districts in the State Department of Education's Program Improvement program. This program, serving districts enrolling 20,000 to 25,000 students, focuses on systemic improvements that increase student achievement, particularly for special education and English learners. Tucker's work has resulted in measurable improvements in standards-based assessments, special education program design, principals' effectiveness, and classroom instructional practice.
Tucker also serves as Associate Director for WestEd's California Comprehensive Center (CA CC). Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the CA CC builds state capacity to implement fully the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, improve student achievement, and close achievement gaps. Tucker and her CA CC colleagues provide assistance to the California Department of Education and other state agencies, as well as to statewide groups and organizations that help districts and schools implement NCLB.
She is a member of WestEd's DistrictsMovingUp team, a comprehensive, coherent, and intensive process that ensures improved student achievement. Tucker and colleagues work collaboratively with district stakeholders to provide customized, research-based solutions that meet the needs of districts.
Prior to joining WestEd, Tucker served as Superintendent of the Fairfield-Suisun (CA) Unified School District, a K-adult urban district enrolling 25,000 students. During Tucker's seven-year tenure as superintendent, the district improved its student achievement scores, implemented a standards-based curriculum and assessment system, and built or replaced nine schools.
Tucker also held leadership positions in both urban and rural settings, serving as deputy superintendent and assistant superintendent, and elementary and secondary school principal. She began her education career as a special education, bilingual immersion, and general education classroom teacher and served as a reading specialist under the Miller-Unruh Basic Reading Act.
In addition, Tucker has an extensive background in higher education. She helped initiate the College Counseling Program at the University of California, Riverside (UCR); collaborated on organizational development at UCR, California State University, Fresno, and Chapman University; and taught university classes in school administration, and the history and design of curriculum.
Active in local children's mental health initiatives and the Solano County California Library Foundation, Tucker is the Chair for Solano County’s First Five Commission.
She received a BA in history from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and an MA in curriculum and instruction and PhD in educational policy and administration from the University of California, Riverside.
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Cheryl Williams, Director, Outreach Services, Learning Innovations
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As Director of Outreach Services for Learning Innovations at WestEd, Cheryl Williams promotes growth in schools and organizations resulting in the adoption of practices that emphasize collegiality, student achievement, and accountability. Williams also provides technical assistance in district leadership development, school improvement, and team building.
She currently is working with the New York Comprehensive Center to help build state capacity to support low-performing schools. Specifically, Williams works with both state education staff and district/regional school personnel to ensure a systematic process that represents all stakeholders in research-based models to improve schools. She also works with mostly urban school districts in Massachusetts and other states on accountability and assessment, leadership development, and effective communication practices. For example, one group of urban middle schools changed the school schedule to allow more time to focus on instruction as a result of the training and those schools involved the longest reported an increase in student math achievement scores.
Williams has extensive marketing experience in education, nonprofit, and for-profit organizations. She also has expertise developing leadership skills for educators and community members and for planning and organizing large-scale, multi-year professional development events. Prior to joining WestEd in 1996, Williams worked at the Close Up Foundation, a civic education program that partners with teachers nationwide to bring students to Washington, D.C., to experience their government in action, participate in peer-to-peer learning, and develop the skills needed for active citizenship.
In 2002, Williams received WestEd's Award for Exceptional Contribution to the WestEd Community.
She received a BS in psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an MA in organizational development from George Mason University.
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Ruth McKenna, Director Field Services
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Under Ruth McKenna's leadership, WestEd initiated the Local Accountability Professional Development Series (LAPDS) in early 2003 to help school districts meet the tough accountability requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Through LAPDS, McKenna has helped districts throughout the United States blend research-based instructional support with data-management technology to create a customized local assessment and accountability system. District educators, through LAPDS, learn how to accurately guide and track learning — demonstrably using student data to improve their schools.
In 2007 the work was expanded to bring together all of the service projects in WestEd that support district improvement under an umbrella project. DistrictsMovingUp was launched in Fall 2007 to provide comprehensive district improvement services grounded in the research on best practices of high performing districts and lessons learned from WestEd's experience in low performing schools and districts serving as an external entity. In 2008 DistrictsMovingUp will provide district improvement services in CA, AZ, WA, and CO. As Director of Field Services, McKenna supervises both DistrictsMovingUp (DMU) and LAPDS with assistance from Project Directors Mary Peterson (DMU) and Joe Sassone (LAPDS).
McKenna's work has been a key component in WestEd's successful collaboration with Assessment Technology, Inc. Software such as that developed by ATI helps streamline and customize much of the effort of a local accountability system and accelerates and improves the testing-reporting, results-adjusting instruction process.
Prior to joining WestEd, McKenna served as Superintendent of New Haven (California) Unified School District, where she led the district to adopt graduation requirements that guaranteed the eligibility of every student to the California State University and University of California systems. Specifically, McKenna helped the district implement the California Content Standards, establish multiple measures for student performance evaluation, open preschool programs at every district elementary school, and establish school-level accountability for students at risk of failure.
Under McKenna's leadership, the district's students surged well above the state average in the following areas:- participation in high school courses required to be admitted to the University of California: 11 percent higher than state average;
- percentage of eighth graders proficient or advanced in Algebra: 14 percent higher than state average;
- participation rate in biology and chemistry courses: 17 percent higher; and
- closed gap between lowest- and highest-performing schools on API 2000-2003: 46-point reduction. In addition, the lowest scoring school on API 2003 was 100 points higher than in 2000.
Earlier, as Associate Superintendent in the New Haven School District, McKenna helped move New Haven to the forefront in technology integration in the classroom and the workplace.
During 1995-1998, McKenna served as Chief Deputy Superintendent for the California Department of Education, where she helped implement strategies for education reform. As part of the Challenge Initiative, McKenna assembled representatives from school districts statewide to draft the first set of academic standards for the state, known as the Challenge Standards.
McKenna founded the New Haven Schools Foundation and led the Citizen's Advisory Committee on Race and Ethnic Relations, which later became a model program in Alameda County, California. She has been a member of both the Board of the Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center and Education Committee of the Alameda County Economic Development Advisory Board. Through the years, she has represented the school district to the Union City Chamber of Commerce.
McKenna received a BA in English from the University of California, Davis, and an MS in human resources from Golden Gate University.
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Bob Rosenfeld, Program Associate
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Robert Rosenfeld is a Lead Trainer and School Assistance and Intervention Team Lead with WestEd’s Comprehensive School Assistance Program (CSAP). He works to build the capacity of districts, schools, and those who work with them to plan, implement, and monitor research-based, comprehensive reform efforts. For the past four years, he has been working with districts in California, Arizona, North Carolina, and Massachusetts to build local accountability systems to meet the challenges of No Child Left Behind and Adequate Yearly Progress.
Prior to coming to WestEd, Rosenfeld managed the development of educational toys and educational software. Rosenfeld is a former math and science teacher and is bilingual (Spanish and English).
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Assessment Technology, Inc.
WestEd and ATI have partnered to provide districts with a comprehensive solution to local accountability. ATI's Galileo K-12 Online is a fully integrated system for managing learning that makes it possible for districts to build valid and reliable benchmark and formative assessments linked to academic standards by performance objectives. Districts use the advantages of Galileo's web-based technology to create, administer and electronically score tests, aggregate and report on student achievement, map curriculum, and link assessment data to imported student information. The integration of data from Galileo K-12 Online with WestEd's LAPDS helps districts succeed in using standards-based, data-driven decision making to benefit students, teaching and administrative staff on a daily basis.
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