Northeast ASCD Affiliate Conference

The presenters for the 2007 Northeast ASCD Affiliate Conference are:

Willard Daggett 

Willard R. Daggett, Ed.D., President of the International Center for Leadership in Education, is recognized worldwide for his proven ability to move education systems towards more rigorous and relevant skills and knowledge for all students. He has assisted a number of states and hundreds of school districts with their school improvement initiatives, many in response to No Child Left Behind and its demanding adequate yearly progress (AYP) provisions. Daggett has also collaborated with education ministries in several countries and with the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Governors Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and many other national organizations.

Before founding the International Center for Leadership in Education in 1991, Bill Daggett was a teacher and administrator at the secondary and postsecondary levels and a director with the New York State Education Department, where he spearheaded restructuring initiatives to focus the state's education system on the skills and knowledge students need in a technological, information-based society.

Bill Daggett is the creator of the Application Model and Rigor/Relevance Framework, a practical planning and instructional tool for determining the relevance of curriculum and assessment to real-world situations. Daggett's Rigor/Relevance Framework has become a cornerstone of many school reform efforts throughout the United States.

Bill Daggett is the author of six books about learning and education, 12 textbooks and numerous research studies, reports, and journal articles. He also serves on a number of advisory boards, including the USA Today Education Advisory Panel.

Bill Daggett has spoken to hundreds of thousands of educators and education stakeholders in all 50 states. His enlightening, entertaining, and motivating messages have helped his listeners to look at education differently by challenging their assumptions about the purposes, benefits, and effectiveness of American schools. Daggett inspires his audiences both to embrace what is best about our education system and to make the changes necessary to meet the needs of all students in the 21st century.

Chris Dede

Chris Dede is the Timothy E. Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. His fields of scholarship include emerging technologies, policy, and leadership. His funded research includes a grant from the National Science Foundation to aid middle school students learning science via shared virtual environments and a Star Schools grant from the U.S. Department of Education to help high school students with math and literacy skills using wireless mobile devices to create augmented reality simulations. In 2007, he was honored by Harvard University as an outstanding teacher. Chris has served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Foundations of Educational and Psychological Assessment, a member of the U.S. Department of Education's Expert Panel on Technology, and International Steering Committee member for the Second International Technology in Education Study. He serves on Advisory Boards and Commissions for PBS TeacherLine, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center, and several federal research grants. In addition, Chris is a member of the Board of Directors of the Boston Tech Academy, an experimental small high school in the Boston Public School system, funded by the Gates Foundation.  His co-edited book, Scaling Up Success: Lessons Learned from Technology-based Educational Improvement, was published by Jossey-Bass in 2005. A second volume he edited, Online Professional Development for Teachers: Emerging Models and Methods, was published by the Harvard Education Press in 2006.

Rick DuFour

Rick DuFour was a public school educator for 34 years and is currently one of the nation's foremost authorities on applying the principles of professional learning communities in the real world of schools. During his tenure as the principal of Adlai Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois from 1983 to 1991 and as superintendent of the district from 1991 to 2002, Stevenson became "the most recognized and celebrated school in America" (United States Department of Education). Rick DuFour is the author of seven books, three video resources, and over forty professional articles. He has received many state and national awards for distinguished educational service and scholarship.

Becky DuFour

Rebecca DuFour has served as a teacher, school administrator, and central office coordinator. She is the lead consultant and featured principal for the Video Journal series, "Elementary Principals as Leaders of Learning" (2003) and is co-author of Getting Started: Reculturing Schools to Become Professional Learning Communities (2002), Whatever It Takes: How Professional Learning Communities Respond When Kids Don't Learn (2004) and On Common Ground The Power of Professional Learning Communities (2005). A graduate of National Staff Development Council's Academy X, Becky has written for numberous professional journals, serves as a book reviewer for the Journal of Staff Development, and writes a quarterly column for Leadership Compass.

Nancy Love

Nancy Love is Director of Program Development at Research for Better Teaching, where she leads this professional development organization’s research and development. She also directs the Using Data Project at TERC, where she works with schools nationally to improve teaching and learning through effective and collaborative use of multiple sources of school data. She is the developer of the Using Data Process, a comprehensive professional development program and supporting materials to prepare data coaches to lead collaborative inquiry with school- and district-based data teams. This program has produced significant gains in student achievement as well as increased collaboration and data use in schools across the country.

Nancy Love also authored several books and articles on data use, including A Data Coach’s Guide to Closing Achievement Gap: Unleashing the Power of Collaborative Inquiry (with Stiles, Mundry, and DiRanna) with Corwin Press (2007) and Using Data/Getting Results: A Practical Guide to School Improvement in Mathematics and Science (2002, Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc. She is currently writing a book about the successes and lessons of the Using Data project, to be published by the National Science Foundation in 2007.

Love is also well known for her work in professional development as a seasoned a highly engaging presenter and author of articles and books, including Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics (Second Edition) with Susan Loucks-Horsley, Kathy Stiles, Susan Mundry, and Peter Hewson (2003, Corwin Press).

In 2006, she (with Susan Mundry) was awarded the prestigious Susan Loucks-Horsley Award from the National Staff Development Council in recognition of her significant national contribution to the field of staff development and to the efficacy of others.

Susan Mundry

Susan Mundry is the Associate Director of Mathematics, Science & Technology Programs at WestEd. Since 2000 she has directed the National Academy for Science and Mathematics Education Leadership, a project designed to build the capacity of education leaders to increase achievement in science and mathematics education. She is co-author of the best selling book, Designing Effective Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics, as well as the toolkit, Teachers as Learners, a videotape collection of 18 professional development programs that illustrate diverse strategies for teacher learning in science and mathematics. She co-authored the best selling book, Leading Every Day:  124 Actions for Effective Leadership, named a National Staff Development Council 2003 Book of the Year.  Susan also co-developed the facilitator’s guide for the Using Data Process, A Data Coach’s Guide to Closing Achievement Gaps: Unleashing the Power of Collaborative Inquiry, a comprehensive professional development program and supporting materials to prepare data coaches to lead collaborative inquiry with school- and district-based data teams.

Prior to joining WestEd, Mundry served in many roles from staff developer to Associate Director at The NETWORK, Inc., a research and development organization focused on organizational change and dissemination of promising education practice. There, she managed the work of the National Center for Improving Science Education and the Center for Effective Communication, provided technical assistance to schools, oversaw national dissemination of educational programs, and co-developed two widely acclaimed simulation board games, Making Change for School Improvement and Systems Thinking/Systems Changing.

Andy Platt 

Dr. Alexander (Andy) D. Platt has been a founding and senior consultant with Boston-based consulting firm Research for Better Teaching (RBT) for twenty-two years.  In 2000 he founded Ready About Consulting, dedicated to working with leaders of underperforming schools.

Andy is the lead author on the best selling book, The Skillful Leader: Confronting Mediocre Teaching (2000). His consulting work focuses on coaching principals in urban schools in how to raise the quality of instruction through supervision. Currently he is working in Boston Public Schools, San Francisco USD, Oakland USD, Springfield, Illinois and several other urban districts He has presented at many national conferences and institutes including four years with Richard Elmore's Harvard Institute for School Leaders and is a regular presenter at the Association of California  School Administrators (ACSA). He returns to the Summer Leadership Conference after being well received in 2005.  Dr. Platt is working on a new book The Skillful Leader: Confronting Conditions That Undermine Learning, due to be released in October of this year. He has taught long-term supervision and evaluation courses to over two thousand administrators not only in the US but also in Europe and Japan. He was the keynote speaker at a 1999 Sino-American Conference in Kuming, China.

Dr. Platt has been an Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum in the Wayland (MA) Public Schools, a leadership consultant to NESDEC (New England School Development Council), and served for ten years on the Massachusetts Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (MASCD) Executive Board. He was MASCD President for two years. Dr. Platt earned his B.A. from Bowdoin College in 1966 and completed doctoral work at Boston University in 1978. His classroom experience includes teaching science and math at the elementary, middle school and high school levels.

Pam Robbins

Pam Robbins consults internationally in the areas of Emotional Intelligence, Brain-compatible Training, Instructional Strategies for Block Scheduling, Peer Collaboration, Coaching, Mentoring, Leadership Skills, Site-based Decision Making, School Improvement, Team Building, Change, Personality Styles, the Brain Research, Supervision, Dimensions of Learning, and Presentation Skills.

Her educational and corporate clients include: The Alaska School Leadership Academy, University of Alaska-Southeast, Ministry of Education - Singapore, The American Petroleum Institute, The Principal's Institute of Vanderbilt University, the National Center for School Effectiveness, Ford Motor Company, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Leadership Academy, Iowa State University, Virginia Department of Education, Maine State Department of Education, Department of Defense Schools, the Manitoba Teachers' Society, Rohm and Haas Corporation, Mazda Motor Corporation, and Wisconsin Electric. She has also worked with local school systems and staff members throughout the United States, Canada, the Far East, Great Britain, South America, and the with the TI-IN Network, an organization producing educational television programs. She was formerly Director of Training for the California School Leadership Academy, where she participated in the conceptualization, development, and delivery of selected leadership training models.

Her work includes the creation and implementation of national curriculum seminars and training for the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), the National Staff Development Council (NSDC), and the American Association of School Administrators (AASA). She has also presented sessions at ASTD (American Society for Training and Development) and was featured in their 1995 Satellite Broadcast. Her written work has appeared in Educational Leadership, The Elementary School Journal, and the Journal of Staff Development. Her book, How to Develop and Implement a Peer Coaching Program, was commissioned and published by ASCD. The Principal's Companion, written with co-author Harvey Alvy was published in June 1995 by Corwin Press. She participated in the development of three videotapes produced by ASCD: "Staff Development for School Improvement," "Skills for the Instructional Decision Maker," and "Opening Doors." She has also developed four tapes for the Effective Instruction and Classroom Management series produced by NSDC. Her most recent videotape series, "Peer Collaboration and Peer Coaching," was produced by the Video Journal of Education (September 1993). Recent publications include a Professional Inquiry Kit on Emotional Intelligence published by ASCD (December 1997), a book entitled If I Only Knew, written with Harvey Alvy, published by Corwin Press (June 1998), and a book entitled Thinking Inside the Block: The Teacher's Day Planner, published by Corwin Press (1998) and written with co-author Lynne Herndon.

Pam's educational background includes a Bachelors Degree in English from the University of California, a Masters Degree in Education from California State University, Sacramento, and a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley. Her doctoral studies emphasized the areas of organizational development and change.

Doug Reeves

Douglas Reeves is CEO and founder of the Center for Performance Assessment, an international organization dedicated to improving student achievement and educational equity. Through its long-term relationships with school systems, the Center helps educators and school leaders to improve student achievement through practical and constructive approaches to standards, assessment, and accountability.

Doug is a frequent keynote speaker in the U.S. and abroad for education, government, and business organizations and is a faculty member of leadership programs sponsored by the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Reeves is the author of more than twenty books and many articles, including The Learning Leader: How to Focus School Improvement for Better Results (ASCD, 2006), as well as the best-selling Making Standards Work: How to Implement Standards-Based Assessments in the Classroom, School and District, now in its third edition. Other recent titles include Assessing Educational Leaders: Evaluating Performance for Improved Individual and Organizational Results (Corwin Press, 2004), Accountability for Learning: How Teachers and School Leaders Can Take Charge (ASCD, 2004), Accountability in Action: A Blueprint for Learning Organizations (2nd Edition, 2005), The Daily Disciplines of Leadership: How to Improve Student Achievement, Staff Motivation, and Personal Organization (Jossey Bass, 2002), The Leader's Guide to Standards: A Blueprint for Educational Equity and Excellence (Jossey-Bass, 2002), and Reason to Write: Help Your Child Succeed in School and in Life Through Better Reasoning and Clear Communication (Simon & Schuster, 2002).

Mike Schmoker

Mike Schmoker has worked on school and district improvement, assessment, curriculum and staff development as a central office administrator in two school districts in Arizona, as a senior consultant at McREL (Mid-Continent Regional Educational Laboratory) in Denver, Colorado and now as an independent speaker and consultant. He is a former middle and high school English teacher and football coach.

He has written four books and numerous articles, which have appeared in Educational Leadership, Phi Delta Kappan , Education Week and TIME magazine.

He has just published another book: RESULTS NOW: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements in Teaching and Learning

Mike Schmoker argues convincingly that if student achievement is to improve, especially in the higher-order proficiencies, instruction will necessarily have to change and improve simultaneously. He sets out a clear but simple agenda to achieve such a transformation in American schools. This book should be required reading for everyone in educational leadership and anyone concerned about the quality of teaching and learning.

Caroline Tripp

Caroline Tripp is a consultant with Research for Better Teaching (RBT) in Acton, Massachusetts and a co-author The Skillful Leader: Confronting Mediocre Teaching.  She specializes in leadership training and development and draws on 35+ years of experience at all levels of public schooling in presenting and consulting on teacher and administrator supervision and evaluation systems and practices, supporting and sustaining teacher quality, nurturing aspiring leaders, and creating high functioning professional communities.