Sharon Deich

Sharon Deich is vice president of the education policy consulting firm Cross and Joftus, where she focuses on education financing issues and change management. She also is expert in coupling after-school programming and traditional education reforms to improve student achievement.

Prior to joining the firm, she spent two decades in the nonprofit sector honing her research, policy, and technical assistance skills. During this time, she worked with federal agencies, state government leaders, city officials, and foundation initiative leaders on issues related to early care, K-12 education, after-school programming, and related education reform efforts.

From 1997 to 2007, Deich served as an associate director for The Finance Project, where she authored numerous briefs and reports on the financing of human services programs and provided technical assistance and expert facilitation to organizations looking to scale up and sustain promising initiatives. During this period, she also served on numerous advisory boards, including one for a joint project of the National Governors Association, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and the National Conference of State Legislatures to expand extra learning opportunities as a way to improve student success.

Before joining The Finance Project, Deich spent 15 years researching and evaluating programs that support low-income children and families. Her prior experience includes work for the American Institutes for Research, where she worked closely with the Head Start Bureau to revise performance standards and the training and technical assistance system. She also spent six years working at the Urban Institute, where she was a contributing researcher and author for the National Child Care Study.

Deich earned her bachelor's degree in economics from The State University of New York at Albany and earned her master's degree in public policy from the University of Michigan.

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ASSOCIATES
Cross & Joftus has extraordinary access to the best minds in education today through its large pool of associates. These individuals are authorities in school system management and governance, youth engagement, special education and the Response to Intervention approach, school dropout prevention, school technology use, student and teacher assessment, teacher preparation and certification, early childhood care and education, program evaluation, and more.

Joseph A Aguerrebere
Joyce Carter
Yen Chau
Naomi Chudowsky
Catherine Conrado
Amy Cox
Nathan Cross
Ray Daniels
Jo Lynne DeMary
Mary Ann Dewan
Joseph F. Dominic
Alex Donahue
Jamie Ekatomatis
Joan Evans
John Hess
Gus Jacob
Eleanor Johnson
Steven Johnson
Jim Karleskint
Cheryl Krehbiel
Gene I. Maeroff
Quannah Parker-McGowan
Brenda McLaughlin
Janalee Jordan-Meldrum
Michael Moore
Meghan Neary
Jill Nieman
Heather Clapp Padgette
Alice Parker
Ronald A. Peiffer
Linda Plattner
Monica Santana Rosen
Ken Rugg
Richard C. Seder
Torrey Shawe
Janet Shay
Virginia (Ginger) Adams Simon
Dale Spears
Donna Power Stowe
Nancy Taylor
Jacquelyn Thompson
Connie Wehmeyer
Michael Wilson
Bernard Yaklin
Barbara Young

Joseph A Aguerrebere

Joseph A Aguerrebere served for eight years as President and CEO of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) in Arlington, Virginia. NBPTS is an independent, nonprofit organization that works to advance the quality of teaching and learning in schools. Prior to leading NBPTS, Dr. Aguerrebere was Deputy Director of the Education, Knowledge, and Religion unit of the Ford Foundation in New York. In addition to his management responsibilities, his grantmaking work focused on working with key national organizations in the development of human capital in education settings in the U.S. and abroad.

Born and raised in East Los Angeles, he attended the University of Southern California where he earned a bachelors degree in political science, and masters and doctorate degrees in educational administration. His professional career began as a high school teacher in Southern California. He ultimately worked in five diverse school systems serving as assistant principal, principal, and central office administrator in elementary, middle, and high school settings. He later served as a tenured full professor of educational administration at California State University, Dominguez Hills in Los Angeles where he prepared teachers and school leaders to work successfully in urban settings. While there, he was Director of the Future Teacher Institute and National Director of the Consortium for Minorities in Teaching Careers, a multi-state, multi-university collaborative funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

Joyce Carter

Joyce Carter is a Kansas native with 35 years of public education experience as a teacher, consultant, and building principal in grades K-12. She earned a master's degree in Special Education: Gifted and has both building and district leadership certification through Fort Hays State University. Her experiences include special education inclusion programs, vocational director, developing at-risk strategies for student success, and working to increase graduation rates. Joyce has a passion to reach all students through effective teaching techniques in the classroom.  She recently retired after 17 years as principal and currently works with the Kansas Learning Network as a school implementation coach and district implementation coach.

Yen Chau

Yen Chau has approximately 10 years of experience examining social and education policies, programs, and strategies. She served as Deputy Project Coordinator for the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) Early Childhood topic, the Research Team Leader for the National High School Center (NHSC), and the Quantitative Team Task Leader for the Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center (CSRQ). She has applied this knowledge of common problems with conducting research in developing several program evaluations for federal, state, and local programs.

Prior to joining Cross & Joftus, Dr. Chau was the Director of Research at the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE), where she provided state board of education members with research-based technical assistance and aided them in the development of policies that support student learning and engagement. Also while at NASBE, she assisted in the development and implementation of Project PASS (Partnership for all Students' Success), a program created in partnership with the U.S. Army aimed at preparing secondary students in becoming responsible and productive adults. She is committed to helping states, districts, schools, and communities develop competencies and capacity to prepare all youths for postsecondary success.

Catherine Conrado

Catherine Conrado is an experienced special educator and administrator. She began her career as a speech-language therapist in grades preschool through secondary with a population of diverse students representing the full spectrum of disabilities. She has experience in administrative and leadership roles in large urban districts, suburban, and small rural districts, in addition to State level service, consulting work and college-level instruction. Dr. Conrado has been the Chair of the California Advisory Commission on Special Education and served on the Charter School Workgroup at the California Department of Education. She is currently the special education director for the Sonoma County region and has budget responsibility for $50 million annually.

Nathan Cross

Nathan Cross is a senior associate with Cross & Joftus. From 2004-2011, Nathan was the senior program director of the new administrator program with the New Teacher Center's school leadership division. As the director, he created and delivered the professional development activities for educational leaders across the nation, as well as directing the new administrator coaching program in the San Francisco Bay Area. In this capacity he directed the alternative clear administrative credential program in partnership with the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA). In addition, he was the senior program trainer for the center in the Coaching Leaders to Obtain Student Success (CLASS) program. CLASS trains educational leaders in the blended coaching model developed by Gary Bloom.

Nathan taught educational administration in the urban high school leadership cohort as an adjunct professor at San Jose State University. He has 26 years of experience as an assistant superintendent, superintendent /principal, and principal. Nathan has extensive training and experience in program development, collaborative decision-making, professional development design and delivery, leadership team building, meeting management, and interest-based bargaining. His academic credentials include an M.A. in educational a ministration from San Jose State University and an M.A. in curriculum and instruction from Michigan State University.

Naomi Chudowsky

Naomi Chudowsky has more than two decades of experience in the field of educational testing and research. Prior to becoming a consultant, she was a study director for the Board on Testing and Assessment at the National Research Council. There she wrote a number of committee reports on topics ranging from advances in the cognitive sicences and the implications for designing better tests, to appropriate uses of value-added models. In the 1990s, she worked on President Clinton's Voluntary National Testing Initiative at the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to that, she was with the Connecticut State Department of Education where she coordinated development of the statewide high school test. Naomi has a Ph.D. in educational psychology from Stanford University.

Amy Cox

Amy Cox is a research assistant at Cross & Joftus. She provides research support and conducts data analysis on a variety of projects related to linking in-school and out-of-school learning. As an undergraduate, Cox conducted grant-funded, independent research to inform her honors thesis on welfare reform outcomes for women. Cox holds, with highest distinction, a bachelor of arts, with honors in sociology, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Lee Cox

Lee Cox has 35 years of experience in diverse areas of education including regular education, special education, state & federal programs, K-8 building principal, curriculum director, and assistant superintendent. For many years she taught Curriculum and Instruction classes for graduate students. Lee has worked at the state and national level facilitating comprehensive school reform initiatives in urban and rural school districts. She serves as a federal grant reviewer and technical writer for school district and foundation grants. Lee is well versed in educational research, curriculum design, and data analysis. She is skillful and engaging as a facilitator for strategic planning, walk-through training, and root cause analysis. Lee is passionate about empowering others as an avenue to improve student learning. Lee received her master's degree from Wichita State University and bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas.

Ray Daniels

Ray Daniels is an associate at Cross & Joftus. He was superintendent of Kansas City (Kansas) Public Schools from 1998 to 2004. While superintendent, he led the district's implementation of First Things First and oversaw a remarkable increase in student achievement. For example, during his tenure, the percentage of students in the district scoring at or above proficiency on the state reading assessment increased 20 points, and the achievement gap between white and Hispanic students virtually evaporated. Prior to his tenure as superintendent, Daniels served first as the district's director of personnel and later as its assistant superintendent for personnel services. He also served the district as a high school English teacher, a basketball and track coach, and an assistant principal. Daniels received his master's and doctorate degrees from the University of Kansas and his bachelor's degree from Kansas State University.

Jo Lynne DeMary

Jo Lynne DeMary is an associate at Cross & Joftus. She is director of a newly established Center for School Improvement within the Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University. She has the distinction of being the first woman to serve as Virginia's state superintendent, a position she held from 2000 to 2006. DeMary has more than 38 years of experience in public education. She has served as a teacher, an assistant principal, a principal, an elementary school supervisor, a director of special education, and an assistant superintendent of schools in Henrico County (Virginia) Public Schools before joining the state department of education as assistant superintendent of instruction.

Mary Ann Dewan

Mary Ann Dewan a lifelong resident of Indianapolis, was previously the assistant superintendent in the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township. In that role, she was responsible for the development of an early college high school, Ben Davis University High School. She also created the Wayne Township Preschool which after only 5 months of operation is the largest licensed early childhood center in the state. Prior to becoming assistant superintendent, Mary Ann held the positions of Director of Special Education, principal, and assistant principal having served in both the Indianapolis Public Schools and the MSD of Wayne Township.

Mary Ann was as an adjunct professor at Marian College, having taught courses in special education. She also taught at Butler University in elementary education and as a guest lecturer in educational leadership.  In addition to her work at the university level, Mary Ann has delivered presentations for professional organizations in the areas of leadership, special education, and curriculum and instruction.

Mary Ann earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Marian College. She completed endorsements in special education from Marian College and Butler University. She earned a Master's degree and educational leadership certification from Butler University. She earned a Director of Special Education license from Ball State University. She earned a doctoral degree and superintendent's license from Indiana State University. She is currently the Executive Director of the Central Indiana Educational Services Center.

Joseph F. Dominic

Joseph F. Dominic is an associate at Cross & Joftus. Formerly, he was program director for education at the Heinz Endowments in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he led new agendas for change in school leadership, teaching and learning, community partnerships for innovation, school choice, and applications of digital technology to improve learning. Active in state and local education policy circles, he has advised university presidents, district superintendents, and business and political leaders. He was a board member of the western Pennsylvania Grantmakers Association. He chaired the boards of the federally funded Mid-Atlantic Regional Education Laboratory and the national association of Grantmakers for Education. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette named him one of the region's top five contributors to education progress, and Phi Delta Kappa selected him as lay leader in education. Earlier in his career, he was an award-winning teacher and, later, a fellow with the National Institute of Education, where he joined the management team that coordinated funding and oversight of the federal education research and development centers.

Alex Donahue

Alex Donahue is an associate at Cross & Joftus. He is a secondary-school transformation specialist who recently served as the founding director of college-readiness programs for the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). Trained as a teacher and attorney, he has worked on both district-level strategic planning and policy as well as school-level management and reform. He previously served as a deputy to the assistant superintendent for high schools, an alternative high-school principal, and a teacher for DCPS, and as a teacher and curriculum developer for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Alex received his J.D. degree from Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.

Jamie Ekatomatis

Jamie Ekatomatis has more than a decade of experience with nonprofit organizations and associations in Washington, DC. Prior to joining Cross & Joftus, she served as the Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP) Manager for the Institute for Educational Leadership, where she oversaw the 10-month in-service professional development program for emerging and mid-level leaders in education and related fields with over 7,000 alumni nationwide. Previously, she was a Senior Program Coordinator working on member education initiatives for the National Education Association.

Before entering the education field, Ekatomatis' work with the National Women's Law Center -- and previously with the Children's Defense Fund -- centered on grassroots advocacy campaigns and leadership development programs dedicated to improving the lives of low-income women and children. Ekatomatis holds a bachelor of arts in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania and a master of arts in education policy studies from the George Washington University.

Joan Evans

Joan Evans is an associate at Cross & Joftus. For 42 years, she has taught in and served as school site and central office administrator for the Los Angeles Unified School District. As director of standards-based education, she collaboratively developed and implemented Deming's continuous improvement process with representatives from all constituent groups. Evans has provided training and published articles on how to systematically implement an effective standards-based curriculum, instruction, and assessment system. These practices led to measurable gains in student performance that exceeded the state average and a significant decrease in the achievement gap. Her systems-based approach connected professional development with classroom observations and student achievement data to target specific practices and ultimately raise student achievement.

Steve Gering

Steve Gering has been in education for over 25 years. During that time he has worked in both urban and suburban districts as a HS teacher and coach, a HS administrator, MS principal, District Administrator, and Deputy Superintendent in Kansas City, Kansas. Steve played a lead role in implementing the district reform effort, First Things First, in Kansas City, Kansas. Student achievement has dramatically improved in KCK since the implementation of First Things First.

Steve focuses his consulting efforts on helping districts structure systems of support that lead to successful student outcomes. Over the past year, Steve has provided extensive consulting support around high school reform for Chicago Public Schools. Additionally, he has supported the reform efforts in Los Angeles, Austin, Milwaukee, and numerous school districts in the Kansas City region.

Kelly Gillespie

Kelly Gillespie has served as Chief Executive Officer for Southwest Plains Regional Service Center since July 2003. Kelly comes to educational consulting with 15 years as a classroom teacher and administration experience. The magnitude of her enthusiasm in her work with educators created a bond of devotion and trust with whom she works. Her tireless energy carries directly to the service centers and school districts she serves. Kelly has a Bachelor of Science from Kansas State University in Family and Consumer Science with Vocational Endorsement, Masters of Science from Fort Hays State University in K-12 Gifted Education and Building and District Administration, and a Doctorate of Education in Administrator Leadership for Teaching and Learning through Walden University. She also holds ESL certification.

John Hess

John Hess John Hess is a retired special education administrator, having most recently served as the Executive Director of the Whittier (CA) Area Cooperative Special Education Program for 21 years. In that position he was responsible for the coordination of special education services for 7 school districts with a special education population of 5,500+ students. His prior positions include Director of Special Education for urban and rural special education cooperatives in Indiana, Executive Director of an Indiana outpatient rehabilitation center serving 13 counties, and speech & language pathologist. He also served as an adjunct instructor at Indiana University and as an adjunct associate professor at Whittier College for 11 years.

John has served on the advisory committees for the departments of education at Indiana University Southeast, Chapman University, and Whittier College. He also served as President of the Indiana Council for Exceptional Children, President of the Indiana Council of Administrators of Special Education, member of the Indiana Advisory Council on Education of the Handicapped, Member of the Board of Governors of the National Council for Exceptional Children, Chair of the SELPA Administrators of California, member of California Department of Education's Special Education Stakeholders' Group, and President of the Greater Orange County Council for Exceptional Children. He is currently a member of the Representative Assembly of the National Council for Exceptional Children. He has authored several articles and made numerous presentations at state and national conferences.

John earned a bachelor's degree in speech pathology and audiology and a master's degree in special education with endorsements in emotional disturbance, learning disabilities, mild to severe mental retardation, and special education administration. He also received his doctorate degree in school administration from Indiana University.

Eleanor Johnson

Eleanor Johnson is an associate at Cross & Joftus. She is a consultant on education evaluation and policy analysis. Johnson is a member of and program evaluation expert for a National Research Council committee that is reviewing the Title VI and Fulbright-Hays International Education Programs. She recently retired as an assistant director for education issues at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), where she led more than 60 studies. GAO's groundbreaking, high-visibility evaluations of school finance and school facilities are redefining the model for school finance policy and the metrics of school finance equity nationwide. The recommendations and information are also guiding efforts to rebuild and modernize America's schools and the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to joining GAO, she published two books and worked as a management consultant and program evaluator and as a teacher and an educational administrator in Maine and New York. Johnson received a bachelor of arts from Brandeis University, a master of arts degree from Columbia University, and a doctorate in education from The George Washington University.

Steven Johnson

Steven Johnson is an educator with over 45 years of experience at the district, county, regional, state, and federal levels. Mr. Johnson has worked as a general classroom teacher with students from kindergarten to middle school and as a diagnostic specialist and resource teacher for students with mild and moderate disabilities at all grade levels from preschool to young adult. He has been a building administrator, a district special education and pupil personnel administrator, director of a statewide program for personnel development resources and services, a manager in the California Department of Education and was the associate superintendent for special education with the Oregon Department of Education. He has been active in national deafblind education activities and projects, serving on the advisory board and providing assistance and training to state projects throughout the US. Mr. Johnson also served for over six years on the board of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education and was elected president of the organization in 2002. He has expertise in development and implementation of policy, regulations, and procedures, special education legal issues and compliance, low incidence disabilities, inclusive education, dispute resolution, personnel development, parent involvement and support, and use of data in planning and development. Mr. Johnson has also been a lecturer and faculty member with several teacher training institutions and programs

Jim Karleskint

Jim Karleskint PhD, is a senior associate with Cross & Joftus. From 2000 to 2010 he served as Superintendent and Assistant Superintendent in school districts in Northeast Kansas. Jim played a leading role in implementing strategies that lead to significant student achievement gains during his time as district office leader. Prior to his district office experience he served as a teacher, coach, athletic director, middle school principal, and high school principal. He has extensive experience in working with school district budgets, State & Federal programs, grant writing, curriculum development, school improvement, and teacher observation and evaluation. He teaches education leadership classes at Baker University for Masters and Doctoral candidates. Jim has a passion for working with adults to help them prepare young people for an ever-changing world. He believes ongoing high-quality professional development is essential in every school and district. Jim is past president of the Kansas Staff Development Council.

Cheryl Krehbiel

Cheryl Krehbiel - Prior to consulting with Cross & Joftus, Cheryl served as Deputy Chief for Professional Development in the District of Columbia Public Schools and was responsible for the planning, delivery and implementation of a comprehensive professional development plan to increase the skills and knowledge of teachers, principals and other school staff so that student achievement improves. Previously, she worked as Vice President of Edbuild, a DC non-profit organization and as a Staff Development Specialist in Montgomery County, Maryland and coordinated the Teacher-to-Teacher Workshops for the U.S. Department of Education, which produced numerous on-line offerings as well as face to face workshops where teachers from across the country could learn from some of the most successful teachers in the nation in improving student achievement results. Cheryl has consulted with numerous school systems on issues related to standards and educational reform with teachers and principals. In addition, she has written for the U. S. Department of Education and Community Update, and served as a panelist for several Town Hall national broadcasts for the No Child Left Behind legislation. As a teacher for more than twenty years, Ms. Krehbiel honed skills as a classroom practitioner and has taught in New York, Delaware, and Illinois schools and served as an adjunct professor at Wilmington College, in Delaware. She currently holds certification credentials in Elementary and Special Education and Educational Administration.

Terri Kimball

Terri Kimball is the Director of School Improvement Services at the Southeast Kansas Education Service Center – Greenbush. Previously, she served as a School Improvement Specialist and her duties included: working with schools on watch and on improvement, curriculum development, mentoring, instructional strategies and grant development. Terri is a KSDE Recognized Facilitator for Multi-Tiered Systems of Support and has served on several appraisal teams for the Kansas Learning Network. Prior to coming to Greenbush, Terri's 23 years of experience in education included elementary principal, curriculum director, at-risk coordinator and elementary and middle school teacher.

Jim Lentz

Jim Lentz has been a district-level adminstrator in Augusta, assistant superintendent in Great Bend, and deputy superintendent and superintendent in Garden City, KS. As Leadership Consultant for Southwest Plains Regional Service Center, Mr. Lentz provides leadership training and structured walk-through training to district and building-level administrators. He works with the Board of Education to provide training for new board members and conduct goal setting agendas, visioning and superintendent searches for requesting districts. Jim earned his Master of Science degree in school administration and school district administration certification from Pittsburg State University in 1989.

Gene I. Maeroff

Gene I. Maeroff is an associate at Cross & Joftus. He was the founding director of the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he is now a senior fellow. He was previously a senior fellow at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Earlier, he spent 16 years on the staff of The New York Times, where he was national education correspondent. Maeroff is the author of 12 books on education topics for the general public and professional audiences. His latest book, Building Blocks: Making Children Successful in the Early Years of School, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2006. The subjects of some of his other books have been online learning, the education of poor children, and the ways high schools and colleges can work together on behalf of student achievement. Maeroff also is a member of his local school board, the fifth largest in New Jersey.

Judy Maurice

Judy Maurice is an associate at Cross & Joftus. She has considerable expertise in curriculum and school leadership development as well as program planning and management and grant writing. Recently retired as deputy superintendent for a county office of education in California, her career has included positions as an elementary school teacher, a secondary school teacher, a curriculum developer, a school principal, and a professional development provider for teachers, principals and superintendents, and school leadership teams. She has provided coaching for individual principals and guidance to superintendents in district and community planning and reform efforts. In addition, she has worked with several California school districts and elementary and secondary schools to meet state and district goals to increase student achievement.

Brenda McLaughlin

Brenda McLaughlin brings considerable expertise in out-of-school time learning, nonprofit leadership, and system-building to her consulting practice. Brenda is a skilled facilitator and evaluator, and has spent more than 10 years in the nonprofit sector working to connect research to policy and practice. Her current projects focus on facilitating professional learning and organizational change, leading program evaluations, and making research accessible to practitioners and policymakers. Brenda has a master's degree in public policy from the Johns Hopkins University.

Sylvia McMullen

Sylvia McMullen is an education consultant working on longitudinal data systems as part of the Texas High School Project's Data Diagnostic and Planning Project. She has consulted with the Arkansas Department of Education and Target Testing Committee on interim assessments. She was Senior Vice President at Triand working with 200 school districts on data systems. Ms. McMullen led education and workforce efforts for the Greater Houston Partnership and served on numerous statewide committees including Closing the Gap, TBEC Coordinating Board, and the Houston-Galveston Workforce Board. Ms. McMullen has a M.Ed in Educational Administration from Texas A&M University and a J.D. from the University of Houston.

Quannah Parker-McGowan

Quannah Parker-McGowan is currently on the faculty at Northeastern University in Boston, MA where she teaches in the Graduate School of Education. She began her career in education as a Teach for America 2002 Corps member, where she taught middle school special education in Watts. She went on to work as the Director of Special Education for both Achievement First in New York, as well as, Aspire Public Schools in California. Quannah holds a B.S. in Biology from Catholic University of America, an M.A in Special Education from Loyola Marymount University and an M.Ed in Mind, Brain, and Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Janalee Jordan-Meldrum

Janalee Jordan-Meldrum is a senior consultant at Cross & Joftus. Janalee has served as an education consultant for several years, working with clients such as the National Academy Foundation, the Arkansas Department of Education, and the National Association of Elementary School Principals. Prior to becoming an independent consultant, she served as Senior Program Officer for K-12 and Community Programs at the American Association of University Women (AAUW) Educational Foundation. There, she developed a leadership institute for women principals and superintendents, led a fellowship program and training institute for teachers, provided grants and technical assistance to community-based organizations and coordinated a large-scale community-school coalition project. Janalee obtained her Bachelor's and Master's Degrees from Arizona State University.

Michael Moore

Michael Moore is a senior associate with Cross & Joftus. He has more than 35 years of experience as a K-12 public school educator and has served as a teacher, a high school principal, and a Superintendent of Schools. His areas of expertise include leadership development, organizational development, and executive coaching. Recently, Mr. Moore led the core program at New Leaders, Inc. as Chief Academic Officer. New Leaders is a national non-profit which recruits, selects, trains, and supports principals for the most underserved schools in 12 urban areas. While at New Leaders, Mr. Moore led work that developed and implemented a leadership trajectory and assessment, a school diagnostic tool, and a coaching framework. While serving as the Executive Director of New Leaders' California program, Mr. Moore supported 36 urban principals, 13 of whom saw double digit annual gains in their student achievement results.

Mr. Moore has extensive experience with the design and implementation of leadership development programs including talent identification, leadership assessment, coaching, performance management, and effective training. He has expertise in interest-based negotiation and the creation of communities of practice. Mr. Moore's current consulting portfolio includes projects on principal and teacher effectiveness, leadership development, and the improvement of the human resource function in large school districts. He holds degrees from The Boston Conservatory and the University of Southern Maine.

Meghan Neary

Meghan Neary has nearly a decade of communications and project management experience in education. Most recently, she served at the U.S. Department of Education, where she provided strategic communications support to the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Previously, Meghan wrote professional development curricula and led teams of subject matter experts, instructional designers, and editors at ESI International, a leading project management training company. Prior to that, Meghan served as Senior Associate at Collaborative Communications Group, a D.C.-based consulting firm specializing in K-12 education reform. There, Meghan managed and contributed research and writing to projects that helped education organizations, foundations, and nonprofits address education challenges related to teacher quality, principal effectiveness, family and community involvement, early learning, and high school reform.

Jill Nieman

Jill Nieman is a Senior Consultant with extensive training and experience in standards-based instruction and assessments, literacy and curriculum. Jill worked K-12 as a teacher and administrator. As a Local District Administrator, she provided professional development for teachers and administrators promoting collaborative and reflective problem solving, resulting in instructional improvement. Jill obtained her Bachelor's Degree from California State University at Los Angeles and her Master's Degree and Administrative Credential from California Lutheran University. She was nominated for 2006 Educator of the Year, California League of Middle Schools, Region 8.

Heather Clapp Padgette

Heather Clapp Padgette is a senior consultant with Cross & Joftus and has worked on topics such as high school reform and ways to finance summer learning opportunities. Padgette previously worked at The Finance Project, where she focused on out-of-school time, charter schools, and comprehensive school reform initiatives. She has authored several articles and provided direct technical assistance to state agencies and community organizations to help them identify financial and other resources to help sustain and expand programming. In former positions, Padgette has consulted with school districts and state policymakers on special education and children's health services. She also worked on education reform issues for Chicago Public Schools and the Consortium on Chicago School Research. Padgette received a master's degree in public policy from the Harris School of Public Policy Studies at The University of Chicago.

Alice Parker

Alice Parker is a senior consultant with Cross & Joftus. She has more than 40 years of experience in the classroom as a building principal, a district administrator, and an assistant superintendent of public instruction for California. Her areas of expertise include public policy and practice as well as special education models that meet federal and state compliance but are rooted in the Response to Intervention approach and are focused on improved outcomes for all children at risk of school failure. She has worked as a consultant to state departments of education, local school districts, and charter management organizations and agencies and provided support, consultation, and training in improving leadership; reducing disproportion; and implementing Response to Intervention, inclusive preschool options, and systems change. Parker has a doctorate from the University of San Francisco in Education-Organization and Leadership, a Masters in Communicative Disorders from San Francisco State University, and a B.A. from Indiana University in Speech Pathology and Audiology.

Ronald A. Peiffer

Ronald A. Peiffer is former Deputy State Superintendent of Schools in Maryland with experience in developing and leading several waves of public school reform work over more than two decades. He did foundation work for Maryland's Race to the Top application and helped build state level policy that supported compliant state and local reforms under No Child Left Behind. A decade before that, he helped build Maryland's groundbreaking Maryland School Performance Program. He also provided leadership for Maryland's strategic communication and outreach efforts, particularly those related to reforms. He has represented the agency with state and local media, with Maryland constituencies, and with numerous national groups.

Dr. Peiffer advised the State Superintendent and led reforms aimed at upgrading high school programs, including graduation testing and accountability. He also worked extensively with local school system leaders and other constituencies to resolve policy implementation issues. He is experienced in analyzing and packaging assessment and school accountability data for use by policymakers and the public alike. Serving as liaison with local superintendents on numerous issues, over two decades, he helped the State Superintendent build productive relationships with local leaders, positioning them well to lead reforms at the local level.

As a public servant for more than four decades, Dr. Peiffer has gained insight to the complexities of reforms and built a reputation for listening and collaborating on creative solutions to complex policy problems. Prior to working in school accountability areas at the state level in Maryland, he worked more than two decades with Anne Arundel County Public Schools in central office and building level instruction, curriculum, and accountability work. With undergraduate work in science education and a Master of Arts from The George Washington University, he completed his doctorate at the University of Maryland in curriculum and instruction.

Linda Plattner

Linda's commitment to increasing opportunities and achievement for America's children ties together her twenty-seven years as an educator. Her beginning years teaching elementary school and her years as a middle school mathematics teacher were all spent in high-poverty schools. As part of her school leadership team and later as a district curriculum specialist, she helped create and guide the implementation of school- and district-wide programs aligned with each other and focused on student achievement.

After moving to the Washington, DC area, Linda spent five years with the Council for Basic Education where she and her team facilitated the development of standards and standards-based systems in places as diverse as Maryland, Ohio, and Nevada and to conduct numerous system audits and standards reviews. In 2002, Linda created Strategic Teaching, an organization dedicated to supporting teachers and the systems in which they work. Since that time she has continued to review, craft, and support the implementation of standards and to help teachers use research-based practices to teach to standards.

She is currently serving as executive director for the Illustrative Mathematics Project (www.illustrativemathematics.org). Under the direction of William McCallum, the lead writer for the Common Core Standards for Mathematics, this project seeks to illustrate the standards with selected tasks and problems, supported by student work. She is also working with Achieve on its Open Education Resources project.

Gus Jacob

Gus Jacob is a senior associate with Cross and Joftus. Throughout his 35 years in education his relentless focus has been improvement of instruction through professional development and strong leadership. He currently teaches educational leadership at the University of Missouri Kansas City. His work in the Kansas City area includes providing leadership training and leadership mentoring to several school districts. He coordinates the Missouri Education Policy Fellows Program in collaboration with the Institute for Educational Leadership in Washington, D.C. Additionally, Gus has 16 years experience as an elementary and middle school principal as well as serving in the role of Director of Professional Development for the Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools. He was selected principal of one of the 12 original Basic Schools in the nation working closely with Dr. Ernest Boyer. He is a certified trainer for the Haberman Educational Foundation focused on identifying "Star Teachers and Principals" for urban schools. Gus received his doctorate from the University of Kansas.

Bella Rosenberg

Bella Rosenberg is an associate at Cross & Joftus. She presently works as an education consultant. She was at the American Federation of Teachers for 22 years, most of them as special assistant to its late president, Albert Shanker. Rosenberg's work has focused on various education issues, including standards, testing, and accountability; the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; the National Assessment of Educational Progress; teacher policy; high school reform; and public school choice, vouchers, and charter schools. During the past three years, she has concentrated on "schools-plus" approaches (e.g., health, early childhood education, and extended learning time) to overcoming achievement gaps. She also has extensive public relations strategy and media experience. Her written work includes op-eds, congressional testimony, and academic journal articles. Rosenberg is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Queens College. She pursued her doctoral studies in education and social policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Monica Santana Rosen

Monica Santana Rosen Monica Santana Rosen has a wide range of experience in human capital management, organization design, leadership development, and principal recruitment and selection. Most recently, Ms. Rosen directed the Chicago Public School's efforts to improve the quality of principals across the district, spearheading the redesign of a principal screening process, launching a local and national principal recruitment effort, and supporting the strategic promotion, support or removal of principals. She also established the Leadership Development and Support unit, where she oversaw the district's Principal Induction program, and support for the district's 26 Chief Area Officers. Prior to this role, Ms. Rosen helped lead a redesign of the district's Human Resources department, and then established and led the 65-staff member Employee Services team in HR. During her tenure in Employee Services, average transaction turn-around time improved from 8 weeks down to 3 days, call answer rates from 45% to 93%, and first call resolution from 45% to 75%.

Prior to joining Chicago Public Schools, Ms. Rosen worked in philanthropy and nonprofit management, serving as a grants administrator for the Tiger Foundation in New York City and then as Executive Director for Management Leadership for Tomorrow, a career development program for minority undergraduates and professionals. Ms. Rosen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Wesleyan University and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. She is the recipient of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, and is a graduate of the Broad Residency in Urban Education.

Ken Rugg

Ken Rugg has extensive experience as a general education teacher and school psychologist. He has worked as a teacher in large urban districts and small rural districts. He is currently the lead school psychologist for the Lodi Unified School District, where he is actively involved in facilitating the use of data-based decision making, tiered instruction, and evidence-based practices. He consults with districts providing guidance on the implementation of a Response to Intervention framework and teaches a class on Response to Intervention at California State University, Sacramento. Ken has a Bachelor's Degree from the University of California at Los Angeles, a Master's of Arts in Special Education from California State University, Sacramento, and a Master's of Science in School Psychology from California State University, Sacramento.

Richard C. Seder

Richard C. Seder is an associate at Cross & Joftus. He recently completed a policy fellowship with the California Secretary of Education's office, where he helped the secretary analyze policy issues facing the state's education system. He previously served as education policy program director at the University of Southern California Policy Institute assisting state and local policymakers with policy analysis and working with members of the research community to bring their insights to the forefront of policy discussions. Prior to joining the institute, Seder worked as a senior consulting associate for Management Analysis & Planning, Inc., an education policy consulting firm. He served as an associate with the Standard & Poor's School Evaluation Services in New York and served as the director of education studies at the Reason Foundation in Los Angeles. Seder holds a bachelor of arts degree from Beloit College in government and economics, and he earned his master's degree with distinction from the H. John Heinz School of Public Policy & Management at Carnegie Mellon University. He is finishing his doctorate work in education policy at the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California.

Torrey Shawe

Torrey Shawe C&J's Director of Operations, works with clients such as the Kansas Department of Education and Los Angeles Unified School District, manages the Cross & Joftus web site, contributes to new business proposals, and supports C&J's extensive network of consultants. Before joining Cross & Joftus, Shawe was a senior policy analyst at the National Governors Association, where she helped manage the Honor States Grant Program, a governor-led initiative to improve high school and college-ready graduation rates. Previously, she was a director at the Coalition of Essential Schools, an education reform organization, where she focused on network development and regional center and school support. During this time, Shawe also founded she19, a national nonpartisan effort to inspire women to vote in the 2004 presidential election. Before entering the field of education, she was a producer at Organic, a web development company based in San Francisco. Shawe holds a bachelor of arts degree in history from the University of Virginia and a master of arts degree in educational policy from the University of California, Berkeley.

Janet Shay

Janet Shay has spent 34 years in the public education sector as a staff developer, administrator, and classroom teacher. Throughout her career in each of these positions, her goals have always been to increase student achievement, improve instruction, and support school improvement. She has provided leadership in creating effective and efficient organizational structures at the school level, created and implemented professional development programs for improved curriculum and instruction strategies, supervised teachers and managed teacher accountability programs, and collaborated with colleagues to support high quality, data-driven instruction for all students. She has lived successful educational reform.

Peggy Siegel

Peggy Siegel is an associate at Cross & Joftus. She has spent more than 30 years working on and writing about education reform issues with a focus on leadership, innovation, organizational redesign, and business-education engagement. Having held senior leadership positions in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, Siegel is now an education free agent, collaborating with others to accelerate transformation. Most recently, she has provided strategic advice to and/or advocacy documents for the Council of Chief State School Officers; the KnowledgeWorks Foundation, McREL, and the Ohio 8 Coalition; the Education Commission of the States; Boston College's Center for Corporate Citizenship; and Knowledge Alliance/West Wind Education Policy. Siegel is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Ohio State University, where she also earned a master's degree in political science and a doctorate degree, with honors, in education administration.

Virginia (Ginger) Adams Simon, Ed.D.

Ginger Adams Simon serves as Senior Associate for Cross & Joftus. In this role she has been acting as project manager for the "Brokers of Expertise" project for the California Department of Education since 2007. Brokers of Expertise is a web portal that will put high-quality, innovative, standards — and research-based materials and resources at the finger tips of the state's educators.

Ginger is also a part-time lecturer and policy analyst at the University of California, Davis School of Education. She works in the Center for Applied Policy in Education (CAP-Ed) helping with program development, implementation, research and project management. Her most recent projects include research support for Jack O'Connell's P-16 Council and the development and management of CAP-Ed's Superintendent Executive Leadership Forum (SELF). Her areas of specialization include accountability policy, teacher quality, compensation, organizational leadership and value-added assessment. She earned her doctorate in Education from the University of Pennsylvania in 2005.

Dale Spears

Dale Spears has worked in special education for 36 years. She began her career in Speech Pathology and Audiology and holds certificates, credentials and licenses as both a Speech Pathologist and Educational Audiologist. She has most recently worked in Special Education administration with a focus on service delivery for fully included students and for the speech and language impaired. Mrs. Spears years of service have included full- and part-time lecturer positions at Whittier College, and California State Universities at Los Angeles and Sacramento. She has provided leadership in creating effective support for severely disabled students in general education settings and in development of classroom-based services for Speech and Language. Mrs. Spears has been an active participant in stakeholder groups developing procedures for implementing IEPs and Least Restrictive Environment in California.

Ryan Fink

Ryan Fink is an education policy consultant and research associate at Cross & Joftus. He recently completed a three-year Graduate Assistantship at George Washington University where he worked on a variety of projects related to teacher preparation and professional development. Fink also served as a fourth grade classroom teacher for five years, two at a bilingual school in Longmont, Colorado and three at a a school in Evanston, Illinois. He has a bachelor of science degree in human development and family studies from Penn State University and a master of arts degree in elementary education from the University of Colorado. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in education policy at George Washington University.

Donna Power Stowe

Donna Power Stowe is the former Executive Director of the District of Columbia Education Compact; co-founder and former Vice President of the Institute for Education and the Arts; experienced classroom teacher for pre-K, high school and adult education; and developer of curriculum and professional development for middle school and high school level teachers. She brings knowledge and expertise in translating research and theory into practice, strategic planning, cooperative collaboration building among diverse constituencies, and community engagement to support sustainable change.

Nancy Taylor

Nancy Taylor is a senior consultant for Cross & Joftus and serves as Project Manager for this partnership. She has served as progressive reformer and advocate for public policy change and recognized expert in the field for over a decade. She is a writer, educator and strategist with a deep understanding of the education arena, a track record of success both in the classroom and in addressing complex challenges to education today. Most recently, she served as Executive Director of Citizen Schools California, working to extend the learning day in partnership with high need schools and districts. She began her career as a social studies teacher in South Texas, through Teach for America and later as part of a teacher led autonomous school program, gaining attention for the dramatic results of her students and serving various new school start ups across the country. She has worked at the National Bureau of Economic Research, National School Boards Association, BELL Foundation, National Student Partnerships, and launched her own consulting organization advising districts across the country to improve outcomes and opportunities for students and in our educational systems. She served for many years as Senior Policy Officer at KnowledgeWorks Foundation, a nationally heralded education reform organization, leading the creation of a policy and advocacy division, and directing strategy and staff to sustain dynamic education reform initiatives at the local, state, and national levels.

Taylor has worked with leading stakeholders and public officials on cutting edge education reform, redefining the shape of learning for the 21st century. She has served Governor Strickland of Ohio's developing education initiative and as a strategist in service to Chancellor Michelle Rhee's senior transition team for Washington, D.C. Public Schools. A first generation college student and daughter of a Honduran immigrant, Nancy holds a B.A. in Government & Politics from the University of Maryland and a Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government, specializing in transforming public sector organizations and smart equitable public policy and social change.

Jacquelyn Thompson

Jacquelyn Thompson brings 23 years of experience in the development and implementation of state systems in early childhood education, special education, and early intervention services. She served as State Director for Special Education in Michigan for 13 years where she was distinguished for her leadership in the development and implementation of numerous systems to achieve both compliance and excellence in the delivery of educational services. In addition, Dr. Thompson served as Co-Coordinator of Michigan's Education Policy Fellowship Program for many years. Her areas of expertise include: implementation and scale-up of school-wide Response to Intervention; policy analysis and development; strategies for systems change; and educational leadership. Dr. Thompson was recently appointed to the U.S. Secretary of Education's Commission on Equity and Excellence in Education. She received a Bachelor's Degree from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and a Master's and Doctorate from Michigan State University.

Connie Wehmeyer

Connie Wehmeyer, Ph.D., Cross & Joftus Senior Consultant, is an accomplished educator with over 20 years of experience as a teacher, teacher leader, central office administrator, college instructor and Education Consultant for the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE). As a central office administrator, she focused on systemic change including processes to manage the work of curriculum alignment and the development of a comprehensive formative assessment system. She led the implementation of the Professional Learning Community Model (PLC) creating a common structure to focus on student learning and designed district wide staff development to focus on instructional strategies and data analysis. Her leadership resulted in the turnaround of a district on improvement and increased student learning. Connie has directed the work of Federal Programs, district staff development, and school improvement at the district and state level. As a State and Federal Programs Education Consultant for KSDE, Connie participated in the initial work of the Kansas Learning Network, an innovative approach to school improvement.

Michael WIlson

Michael Wilson is Director of the Teachers College School to Prison Pipeline Project and Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University. He formerly taught high school students who were labeled with emotional and behavioral disorders. He earned his Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Maryland at College Park, where his research focused on the organization of education services for students labeled with disabilities, at-risk students, and students involved in the juvenile justice system. Dr. Wilson has served as Resource Fellow and researcher for the National Center for Education, Disability, and Juvenile Justice, where he conducted research examining the educational status and experiences of students involved in the juvenile system. He has served as an education evaluator in numerous state and district evaluations of education programming in juvenile and adult facilities. Dr. Wilson conducts research examining the effects of policies, school contexts and practices on the academic and social outcomes of marginalized students. Through this research, he is seeking to understand how schools facilitate disability, school failure, exclusion, delinquency, and criminal justice involvement.

Bernard Yaklin

Bernard Yaklin is an expert in converting data into information that is useful in describing, managing, and improving individual and system outcomes. During a career in the United States Air Force, his major duties included quality assurance analysis and development of technician training curricula. After a brief stint as an analyst with the California Postsecondary Education Commission, he was a research analyst in the Student Affairs Research and Information office at the University of California, Davis. He served on various campus committees and the university system-wide committee responsible for tracking affirmative action student outcomes. During this time, he played a key role on a research project examining the performance of students transferring among the community college, state university, and university. Bernie completed his career in education in the Special Education Division at the California Department of Education as a research program specialist. He served as research staff to the statewide special education stakeholders group. Bernie led the development of the data analyses and district reports that became the key element of the district-level quality assurance process for California. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in Psychology and Sociology from California State University, Sacramento and has completed graduate work in research methodology at Sacramento State.

Barbara Young

Barbara Young is a retired California school superintendent who has provided leadership in both high performing and program improvement districts in suburban and rural communities. Her 38 years in education include administrative experiences in special education, curriculum and instruction, human resources, and site administration. Presently Barbara is a consultant in the areas of executive searches and coaching, site administrative coaching supporting equitable practices in schools and classrooms, and assistance for districts in program improvement. She continues her commitment to the importance of inquiry in instructional practices by serving on the board of Visual Understanding in Education.