Response to Intervention Summit

Tiered Interventions and Evidence-Based
Strategies for Improving Student
Outcomes in High School

 

Presenter Information

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Lois Adams-Rodgers

Dr. Lois Adams-Rodgers joined the Council of Chief State School Officers in 2003 after a 32-year career as a Kentucky educator at a variety of levels in urban, suburban, and rural school districts. She has served as a teacher, elementary and middle school principal, special education program coordinator, assistant superintendent, superintendent of schools, associate professor, director of programs at two universities, a state department official in multiple leadership roles, and as a deputy commissioner in the Kentucky Department of Education for three commissioners of education. Dr. Adams-Rodgers holds a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and doctorate of education from the University of Louisville. She serves on a variety of boards and committees, including the Longview Foundation Board of Directors, Asia Society Partnership for Global Learning Advisory Committee, National Community Education Association Board of Directors, National Advisory Council for the MIND Research Institute, Confucius Classrooms Initiative Expert Advisory Committee, National Association of State Science and Math Coalitions, Appalachian Math and Science Partnership, GED Testing Service Advisory Committee, and the Center for Research, Evaluation, and Advancement of Teacher Education.

Charlotte Y. Alverson

Dr. Charlotte Y. Alverson is a research associate at the University of Oregon for the National Post-School Outcomes Center and Secondary Special Education and Transition (SSET) research unit. Her work at the NPSO Center involves researching post-school outcomes, analysis of states’ State Performance Plan (SPP)/Annual Progress Reports (APR), product development, and technical assistance to state departments of education. With SSET, she oversees data collection for two federally funded research projects and is the co-evaluator for a third federally funded research project. Dr. Alverson taught in the public schools for 13 years as a teacher for students with moderate and severe disabilities, preparing students for post-secondary life. Her research interests include post-school outcomes, data use to improve secondary special education programming, and program evaluation.

Loujeania Williams Bost

Dr. Loujeania W. Bost has been the director of the National Dropout Prevention Center for Students with Disabilities located at Clemson University since it was established by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs in 2004. The center assists states and local education agencies build effective programs in dropout prevention, intervention, and re-entry geared to help students with disabilities stay in school and graduate. Dr. Bost holds a PhD in special education from Pennsylvania State University. She has an extensive background in working with students with disabilities. Dr. Bost was the chief of statewide compliance, monitoring, and technical assistance for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. She has been a public school teacher, a program administrator for agencies serving adults and adolescents with mental retardation, and a researcher.

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Darlene Morgan Brown

In her current role as a program associate in the Improving School Performance program of the Southeast Comprehensive Center at SEDL, Dr. Darlene M. Brown serves as liaison for the state of Louisiana. As a mother and former educator in the Louisiana public school system, her mission is to contribute to the creation of an excellent and equitable public education system for all students. Prior to joining SEDL, Dr. Brown served as the director of the Capital One/University of New Orleans (UNO) Charter School Network and as an assistant professor of professional practice in the College of Education, Educational Leadership and Counseling Department at UNO. She has more than 10 years of school improvement experience, working with more than 50 schools and 20 school districts at the local, regional, state, and national levels. Dr. Brown retired in May 2008, with 25 years of experience and a background in both general and special education. Her areas of expertise include instructional leadership, school improvement and restructuring, professional development, group dynamics, inquiry-based instruction, and data-driven differentiated instruction. Dr. Brown received her bachelor’s degree as a speech, language, and hearing specialist from Northeast Louisiana University, currently operating as the University of Louisiana at Monroe. She earned her master’s degree in educational administration and doctor of philosophy degree from UNO.

Camille Chapman

Camille Chapman is a program associate with SEDL's Improving School Performance program. Prior to joining SEDL, Ms. Chapman was a division director for the Mississippi State Department of Education working in areas of student assessment, curriculum and instruction, and federal programs. She also has more than 18 years of classroom experience as a teacher in middle grades mathematics. Ms. Chapman has a master's degree in education with a focus in mathematics from Mississippi College and a BS in education from the University of Louisville.

Ramona Chauvin

Prior to joining SEDL in January 2008, Dr. Ramona Chauvin was a Region II Reading First regional coordinator for the Louisiana State Department of Education and a program director of Western Washington University's K–8 Teacher Education Program in Everett, Washington. She also has more than 25 years of classroom experience as a teacher in grades 5–12 and 13 years of experience in higher education institutions in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Washington. In 2000, Dr. Chauvin was the senior writer/researcher for Reading Links, a preK–6 collaborative project that was part of the federal program Linking Educational Reform and Educational Technology, the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Education, and the Washington Alliance for Better Schools. Dr. Chauvin also served as a lead writer with the Washington Alliance for Better Schools for the creation of Secondary Reading Strategies: Tools and Strategies for Improving Reading in Content Areas, a set of teacher handbooks (i.e., general reading, mathematics, science, and social studies) to be used as part of staff development for middle and high school teachers, coaches, and administrators. She has had a lead role in conducting train-the-trainer sessions as well as intensive professional development with individual schools, school districts, district consortiums, and annual state department conferences and summer institutes in K–12 reading/literacy. Dr. Chauvin holds a PhD from UNO in curriculum and instruction with a focus on teacher development, adult learning, narrative inquiry, and educational administration. Her master's degree is in curriculum and instruction with a focus in reading from UNO and her BA in English education is from Nicholls State University.

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Glenda Copeland

Glenda Copeland, MA, is a program associate with SEDL's Improving School Performance program. She oversees the planning and delivery of technical assistance and professional development in Georgia and assists in providing similar services to other states that SEDL serves. In her previous work with SEDL, Ms. Copeland was a member of the Regional Laboratory Network Program, the Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Consortia, and the National Model Professional Development Award Program, helping plan the selection process and managing the site visit process for the ED. Ms. Copeland led the development and production of A Flashlight and Compass: A Collection of Tools to Promote Instructional Coherence for SEDL's Promoting Instructional Coherence project. As project director of a national comprehensive middle and high school improvement program, she focused on leadership development and building collaborative relationships. Prior to joining SEDL in 1992, Ms. Copeland coordinated district gifted programs in social studies, language arts, and mathematics for the Austin Independent School District and was a classroom teacher (K–12) for 12 years. Her degrees are in secondary education, mental retardation, and gifted education.

Louis Danielson

Dr. Louis Danielson, managing director, serves as a senior advisor to the National Center on Response to Intervention (NCRtI). Dr. Danielson is a national leader in the field of special education who has been involved in programs that improve results for students with disabilities for over 3 decades and brings an unparalleled and unique depth of knowledge in both special education policy and research. Dr. Danielson was awarded a doctorate of philosophy in education from Pennsylvania State University. His career spans several roles in education including secondary school science and mathematics teacher, school psychologist, and teaching at the university level. Until recently, Dr. Danielson held leadership roles in the U.S. Office for Special Education Programs (OSEP) and was responsible for the discretionary grants program, including technical assistance and dissemination, personnel preparation, technology, parent training priorities, and state improvement grants. He has served in numerous research and policy roles and has been involved in major school reform activities. A frequent contributor to professional journals, Dr. Danielson has published extensively in the literature and is a frequent speaker at national conferences, international conferences, and events focusing on special education. His particular areas of interest include policy implementation and evaluation and scaling up of evidence-based practices.

Don Deshler

Dr. Don Deshler is director of the Center for Research on Learning (CRL) and is the Williamson Family Distinguished Professor of Special Education in the School of Education at the University of Kansas. The work of CRL focuses on the validation of academic strategies to enable adolescents to meet state assessment standards and successfully graduate from college prepared to compete in the global economy. Dr. Deshler and his colleagues have completed an excess of $178 million of contracted research and development work related to the Content Literacy Continuum, a tiered intervention framework for raising literacy achievement for all adolescents. Dr. Deshler also serves as an advisor on adolescent achievement to several organizations including the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the National Governor’s Association, the Alliance for Excellent Education, the Council on Families and Literacy, and the U.S. State Department. He recently received a presidential appointment to serve as a member of the National Institute for Literacy Advisory Board. He has presented on matters of educational policy regarding adolescent literacy to the nation’s governors at the James B. Hunt Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy and has testified in Congress and several state legislatures on secondary school reform. Through the Aspen Institute, Dr. Deshler has worked with members of Congress to shape policies addressing the challenges of high school reform. Dr. Deshler is the recipient of numerous awards including the J.E. Wallace Wallin Award for Leadership in Educational Research, the Maxwell J. Schleifer Distinguished Service Award, and the Higuchi Research Achievement Award. Dr. Deshler’s most recent textbook (with Annemarie Palincsar, Gina Biancarosa, and Marnie Nair) is
Informed Choices: Principles and Programs for Adolescent Literacy.

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Peder Fretheim

Peder Fretheim has been teaching mathematics at Walla Walla High School in Walla Walla, Washington, for 6 years. During that time, Mr. Fretheim has helped write standards-based curriculum for four different mathematics classes. He currently is teaching his third year of algebra support.

Maria Garcia

Maria Garcia has been a school psychologist with the Walla Walla Washington School District for 14 years. She is currently the district's RtI coordinator. Ms. Garcia has worked with students of all ages, from preschool through high school. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music therapy from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in school psychology from the College of William and Mary.

Ken Geisick

Dr. Ken Geisick is the superintendent of Riverbank Unified School District, a rural/semi-suburban school district in central California. Formerly, he was the principal of Riverbank High School and he has led a Content Literacy Initiative—an RtI model—since 2004. In 2007, Riverbank High School received the SIM Impact Award from Kansas University-Center on Research and Learning (KU-CRL) for school reform. Previously, Dr. Geisick led a similar literacy reform project at a large, urban middle school. In 2003, his middle school was recognized with the SIM Innovation Award for improved achievement with diverse learners. He is a SIM certified professional developer in content enhancement routines, and he has received the SIM administrative endorsement from KU-CRL. He also serves as an administrative liaison with the Strategic Learning Center and Action Designs, Inc., and presents to teams of site and district administrators about building capacity for increased instructional leadership systemwide. Dr. Geisick is an adjunct faculty member at Chapman University, and he serves on the board of directors for the California Association of School Health Centers.

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Mira Gobel

For the past 7 years, Mira Gobel has served as the associate principal in charge of curriculum, assessment, and instruction at Walla Walla High School in Washington. She was a classroom teacher, in middle school and high school combined, for 14 years. Ms. Gobel earned a BA degree in fine arts from Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, and a MA degree in curriculum and instruction from Northwest Nazarene College in Nampa, Idaho.

Joseph R. Harris

Dr. Joseph R. Harris, principal analyst for the American Institutes for Research (AIR), has an extensive background in science, mathematics, and technology reform as both a practitioner and researcher/evaluator and more than 2 decades of experience as an administrator and high school teacher in an urban public school environment. For the past 12 years, Dr. Harris has served as the project manager for a major technical assistance contract, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in support of the Systemic Initiatives, a multiyear NSF effort designed to promote improved mathematics, science, and technology education in 100+ state, rural, and urban school districts and regional consortia. Dr. Harris also leads several K–12 projects, ranging from the Math Science Program Evaluation Advisory Board to a differentiated compensation project for Springfield, Massachusetts, public schools. His recent projects include the establishment of a nonprofit Superintendents Coalition, the multiyear development and implementation of the Automated Accountability System, and several evaluation studies. Dr. Harris has served as project leader on numerous consulting projects in areas such as program evaluation, student assessment, strategic planning, education policy, program equity, minority student achievement, and public/private partnerships. In that capacity, he has conducted numerous qualitative and quantitative evaluations and research studies that have focused on improved program operations and outcomes. He also has served as a senior research analyst in the design, administration, and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data collected through written surveys, focus groups, and telephone and in-person interviews for both national and local research studies. Prior to joining The McKenzie Group and AIR, Dr. Harris served as an administrator and teacher in the District of Columbia Public Schools. For more than a decade, he coordinated the development, implementation, and operation of an automated instructional management system and played a major role in the development and implementation of the district's 5year computer literacy plan. Dr. Harris holds a BA in mathematical statistics from the University of Florida, an MA in secondary education from the Catholic University of America, and a PhD in education policy from the University of Maryland, College Park.

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Jessica Heppen

Dr. Jessica Heppen, a senior research analyst at AIR, served as the deputy director of the National High School Center (NHSC) from 2005–2009, a central source of information and expertise on high school improvement, housed at AIR. She continues to coordinate NHSC’s work on using early warning systems for the purpose of targeting dropout prevention resources. Dr. Heppen recently authored a guide and hands-on tool to help schools, districts, and states develop systems for monitoring student data to identify students who are off-track for graduation and postsecondary success. She also recently co-authored an article in Princeton University’s Future of Children journal on approaches to improving low-performing high schools. In her work at AIR, Dr. Heppen also conducts research and evaluation studies in secondary schools that focus on technology and using data. Her current studies include a random assignment study sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences examining the effects of online algebra I on mathematics achievement and high school course-taking and a study of data use in urban schools funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Dr. Heppen’s other projects have included an evaluation of the GE Foundation’s College Bound District Program in several urban districts and AIR’s evaluation of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Network District Grants Programs, with a focus on the analysis of equity for students in foundation-supported high schools. Prior to working at AIR, Dr. Heppen spent 5 years conducting evaluation studies of educational technology programs in secondary schools in New York City. She holds a PhD in social psychology from Rutgers University.

Robin Jarvis

Dr. Robin Jarvis is program manager of SEDL's Improving School Performance program. She serves as the director of SECC and oversees the work of SEDL's satellite offices for the comprehensive center. Prior to coming to SEDL, Dr. Jarvis served as the acting superintendent of the Recovery School District in New Orleans. Previous positions with the Louisiana Department of Education include program manager with the Distinguished Educator Program; director of the Division of Professional Development; director of the Division of School Standards, Accountability, and Assistance; and assistant superintendent of the Office of Student and School Performance. In these roles, Dr. Jarvis worked with accountability, curriculum, assessment, and special education issues in Louisiana and served as state director for various federal programs, including Titles I, II, and V, as well as Reading First. She has 13 years' experience in K–12 public education as an elementary school principal and as a K–3 classroom teacher in East Baton Rouge Parish. Dr. Jarvis holds a bachelor's degree in elementary education and a master's degree in elementary education with a focus in early childhood education. She received her PhD in educational leadership and research with a research emphasis on school effectiveness and school improvement.

David R. Johnson

Dr. David R. Johnson is senior associate dean for Research and Policy, an Emma Birkmaier Professor of Educational Leadership, and director of the Institute on Community Integration (ICI) in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Johnson’s faculty appointment is in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development where he conducts research, teaches courses, and advises graduate students in evaluation studies and research methods. He has also been principal investigator of numerous research, training, and demonstration projects. His research interests include investigations of post-school outcomes, school completion, state systems change, cost-benefit analysis, and other policy-related research. Dr. Johnson has published more than 100 book chapters, journal articles, research monographs, technical reports, and products on topics concerning secondary education, special education (including transition), interagency collaboration, and other themes related to his research interests. His research and evaluation results have been used by U.S. Congressional committees, state legislatures, state education agencies, and other organizations.

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Warren A. LeJeune

Warren A. LeJeune is a high school principal at Port Allen High School in West Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He received a BS in secondary math and social studies education from Louisiana Tech University and an ME in educational administration from Southern University. He has been an educator for 20 years serving as a classroom teacher, coach, assistant principal, and presently principal. He has been involved with creating a school within a school for at-risk youth as an administrator and facilitator of intervention implementation and professional learning communities. His present school has been recognized as a “School of Exemplary Academic Growth” under Louisiana’s school accountability system. In conjunction with his teaching career, Major LeJeune serves as a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve with 24 years of experience including deployments to support Operations Desert Storm, Northern Watch, and Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. Presently, he is the commander of the 403rd Maintenance Operations Squadron, Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, a C-130 unit performing both tactical and weather reconnaissance missions. This spectrum of work experience has given him the firsthand knowledge, traits, and qualities needed to improve academic achievement for all students.

Dale Lewis

Prior to joining SEDL in February 2009, Dr. Dale Lewis served as director of special education for the East Williamson County Cooperative (EWCC), a shared services arrangement between several public school districts in Central Texas. His 18 years of K–12 public education experience include service as a middle school special education teacher and department chairperson. A certified educational diagnostician, Dr. Lewis also spent several years conducting educational evaluations and facilitating the development of individualized educational programs for students with disabilities before assuming responsibilities for special education program coordination and leadership in the Bastrop Independent School District and later EWCC. Dr. Lewis holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Washington University-St. Louis and a master’s degree in special education from Southwest Texas State University. He received his PhD in education-school improvement with a research emphasis in special education and academic achievement outcomes of students with disabilities in 2008 from Texas State University-San Marcos.

Carol Miller Lieber

Carol Miller Lieber is a national leader in integrating principles of personalization and youth development into everyday practices and structures for middle and high schools. As a senior consultant for Educators for Social Responsibility, she supports principals, leadership teams, and faculty in large and small middle and high schools in their efforts to embed the four R’srigor, relevance, relationships, and readiness for college, career, and life into every aspect of schooling: personalized learning and classroom practice; teaming and professional learning communities; schoolwide and classroom systems of discipline and learning supports; and school culture, advisory, and postsecondary preparation. Facilitating academic success and healthy development for every student has been at the heart of her work for over 40 years. Ms. Lieber has taught students at all grade levels, co-founded a small urban secondary school in 1973, and served as a faculty member at Washington University, University of Missouri, and Lesley University in Cambridge. She is the author of many books and other publications including Making Learning REAL, Getting Classroom Management RIGHT, The Advisory Guide, and “Increasing College Access through School-Based Models of Postsecondary Preparation, Planning, and Support.”

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Sandra R. Lindsay

Dr. Sandra R. Lindsay is currently serving as a clinical professor in the Education Leadership and Policies Department of the College of Education at the University of South Carolina. From 1999–2004, Dr. Lindsay served as the deputy state superintendent for curriculum services and assessment at the South Carolina Department of Education. At the local school district level, she served for 27 years in leadership roles in Dorchester School District Two, including assistant superintendent for instruction for 16 years. Dr. Lindsay has assumed numerous statewide leadership roles including the presidency of both the South Carolina Association of School Superintendents and the South Carolina Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Teaching about leadership and helping leaders improve their skills and knowledge are ongoing commitments for Dr. Lindsay. She has received numerous awards and honors for her work with public schools and has served at the national level as president of the Deputies Leadership Commission of the Council of Chief State School Officers. Dr. Lindsay has a doctorate in education in curriculum and instruction from the University of South Carolina, a master’s degree in education from The Citadel, and a bachelor’s degree in history from Winthrop College.

Jack Lumbley

Jack Lumbley is a program associate with SEDL's Research and Evaluation (R&E) program. He is responsible for formative and summative evaluation of SEDL's programmatic activities. Mr. Lumbley joined SEDL in 1975 as a senior evaluation specialist for the Divisions of Evaluation, Field Services and Dissemination, and Educational Services.

Mary Lou Meadows

Dr. Mary Lou Meadows is a program associate with SEDL's Improving School Performance program. Dr. Meadows oversees the planning and delivery of technical assistance and professional development in Alabama and assists in providing similar services to other states that SEDL serves. Prior to this, she provided similar services to SECC while working for SEDL's SECAC project from 2002–2006. Before joining SEDL, she retired from the University of North Alabama (UNA) in Florence with 34 years in the field of education. Dr. Meadows has taught grades K–5 as well as college courses at UNA and Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. She also served as the associate director of the Education Research and Inservice Center at UNA. Dr. Meadows holds a master's degree in elementary and early childhood from UNA and a doctorate in elementary and early childhood from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Debra Meibaum

Debra Meibaum, MA, is a program associate with SEDL's Improving School Performance program. Ms. Meibaum oversees the planning and delivery of technical assistance and professional development in Mississippi and assists in providing similar services to other states served by SEDL. Her specialty area is the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). Prior to joining SEDL in 1996, Ms. Meibaum worked at the Mississippi Department of Education for 13 years—10 years in desegregation and bilingual education/English as a second language (ESL) programs and 3 years in special education/speech pathology. She also worked for 7.5 years in the public school systems of Mississippi and Louisiana. Ms. Meibaum has a master’s degree in speech pathology from Tulane University of New Orleans, and a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and speech correction from Southeastern Louisiana University. She also has earned Mississippi certification in elementary administration and special subject supervisor.

Concepcion “Como” Molina

Dr. Como Molina is a program associate with SEDL's Improving School Performance program. In addition to being involved with systemic reform efforts in mathematics, Dr. Molina collaborates with other comprehensive center staff members to deliver regional and state-level forums and professional development training. Prior to joining SEDL in July 1998, Dr. Molina was a high school mathematics instructor for 14 years. He also has prior experience in higher education through his duties as a college representative and minority recruiter with Texas A&M University-College Station. Dr. Molina earned a BS in educational curriculum and instruction from Texas A&M University-College Station, an MS in educational administration from Corpus Christi State University, and an EdD from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

Casey Monahan

After completing a degree in secondary education at the University of Idaho in 1996, Casey Monahan traveled to Mexico to teach English. In her first position, she taught ESL at a university in northern Mexico before traveling the country looking for a new challenge. In 1999, she accepted a job at a private high school in Mexico City where she taught English for 4 years in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. While in Mexico, Ms. Monahan completed a master’s in international education from Western Kentucky University. After the birth of her first child, she moved back to the states and took a position at Capital High School in Olympia, Washington, where she continued to teach in the IB program. Finally, in 2004, the lure of her hometown of Walla Walla brought her to teach at Walla Walla High School (Wa-Hi), her alma mater. In 2006, Ms. Monahan achieved National Board Certification in English language arts. She teaches 9th grade Tier II English and Advanced Placement language and composition. Currently, she serves as the chair of the English department at Wa-Hi and is an active member in the school’s RtI team.

Joe Olmi

Dr. Joe Olmi is the chair and a professor of psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Southern Mississippi. He received his doctoral degree in school psychology from Mississippi State University. He completed a pre-doctoral internship in behavioral pediatrics at the Munroe-Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation on the campus of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Prior to obtaining a doctorate in school psychology, Dr. Olmi worked for several years as a school psychologist in Louisiana and as a secondary social studies teacher in Mississippi and in Iran. Dr. Olmi’s current research interests are functional assessment and analysis for social and academic behaviors, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), school psychology service delivery, and childhood compliance training. He has published articles on these topics in Education and Treatment of Children, Behavior Modification, Child and Family Behavior Therapy, Proven Practice, School Psychology Quarterly, and Psychology in the Schools. Dr. Olmi has a long and extensive history of securing and managing external funds. During his career, externally funded projects have related to pediatric sleep and providing early identification and intervention services for students experiencing behavioral and academic concerns. Additionally, he serves as a consultant to the Mississippi Department of Education providing technical assistance to school districts on issues related to PBIS and RtI. He serves in a similar capacity with the Louisiana Department of Education and is responsible for directing a corrective action project currently in its 5th year with Jefferson Parish Schools aimed at improving service delivery to students with emotional disturbance.

Greg Roberts

Dr. Greg Roberts is the director of the Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and associate director of the Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, both at the University of Texas at Austin. He is principal investigator and director of the Special Education Strand of the National Content Center on Instruction, principal investigator of the Dissemination Core for the Texas Center for Learning Disabilities (funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development), and past co-director of the Central Center for Reading First Technical Assistance. Trained as an educational research psychologist, with expertise in quantitative methods, Dr. Roberts has directed evaluation projects of programs in education, social services, and health care. He is external evaluator for the Reading First programs in the states of Hawaii and Oregon, and he directs evaluation of the state of Washington’s RtI initiatives. He has published in multidisciplinary Tier 1 journals using structural equation models, meta-analysis, and multilevel models. In addition, he was the 1995–1996 Hogg Foundation Fellow in Mental Health Program Evaluation.

Tessie Rose

Dr. Tessie Rose serves as the co-coordinator of Technical Assistance and Telecommunication Supports and a technical assistance provider for the National Center on Response to Intervention. Prior to joining the center, she was an assistant professor of special education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She has served as a general and special education teacher, an educational consultant for several large school districts, and the project coordinator for several grant and contract projects, including model demonstration sites in progress monitoring and RtI in elementary and secondary schools. Dr. Rose has conducted introductory to advanced trainings in RtI related topics for teachers, school/district administrators, and state education agencies in nearly 36 states. She completed her doctoral degree in special education at the University of Utah and post-doctoral research in RtI at Lehigh University.

Kathleen Theodore

Kathleen Theodore, MA, is a program associate with SEDL's Improving School Performance program. Her major responsibilities include working with SECC to build the capacity of state departments of education in implementing NCLB through professional development and technical assistance in reading. Prior to joining SEDL, Ms. Theodore worked for the Louisiana Department of Education's Region I Education Service Center, where she coordinated regional and statewide Reading First professional development activities and provided extensive follow-up through mentoring and coaching. She also worked in the New Orleans Public Schools for 24 years, where she served in various roles, including classroom teacher, staff developer, and district reading facilitator. In her role as a district reading facilitator, she provided professional development, coaching, and mentoring to elementary school teachers. Ms. Theodore holds a master's degree in curriculum and instruction from Xavier University of New Orleans.

Johnny Vitrano

Johnny Vitrano has been principal of Fontainebleau High School since Fall 2004. The positive behavior support program that was implemented at Fontainebleau High earned a perfect score by the state in 2008–2009, quite an undertaking for a school that at the time was the largest in the state. As principal of Fontainebleau High School, the second largest high school in Louisiana, Mr. Vitrano has created an atmosphere of collaboration, which has aided the school in being one of the best in the parish, if not the state. Mr. Vitrano is a principal who is well respected throughout the community, the parish, as well as the state. He serves as an ambassador for the St. Tammany Parish Schools, is a mentor for new principals, and member of the West St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce, the Kiwanis Club, and the Founding Fathers at Southeastern Louisiana University. Prior to his current appointment, he was principal at Boyet Junior High and assistant principal at St. Tammany Junior High. Before entering administration, Mr. Vitrano taught at Mandeville High and other high schools in New Orleans. Fondly known to the students as “Johnny V,” he has made great strides in improving the campus and its facilities. He fosters a school environment that epitomizes the FISH philosophy of being there, choosing your attitude, making their day, and playing.

Haidee Williams

Haidee Williams, MS, is a project director in SEDL's Improving School Performance program. Prior to joining SEDL, Ms. Williams worked for the Region XIII Education Service Center in Texas, where she provided professional development services to address the needs of science education for grades preK–12. She also has worked as a curriculum coordinator and classroom teacher at Channelview Independent School District in Channelview, Texas. Ms. Williams has bachelor's degrees in health and physical education from Lamar University and in biology from the University of Houston. She also has a master's degree in science curriculum and instruction from the University of Houston.