EARLY CHILDHOOD INSTITUTE PRESENTER BIOGRAPHIES Susan Adams, MA, Assistant Commissioner for Georgia s PreK, joined Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning in January 2007. Since joining the Department, she has worked in the PreK division coordinating numerous initiatives that have improved the quality of and increased the access to Georgia s nationally recognized PreK program. Prior to being named Assistant Commissioner for PreK, Ms. Adams served as a PreK Program Manager (2007 2010) and PreK Director (2010 2011). Her responsibilities included overseeing day to day operations of the PreK program, supervising field and office staff, managing funding decisions for PreK classrooms statewide, and implementing the PreK Quality Improvement System. She also managed two American Reinvestment and Recovery Initiatives relating to improving quality in PreK programs across the state. As Assistant Commissioner, Ms. Adams oversees the PreK Program, serving 84,000 PreK students statewide in the 2013 school year with a 300 million budget. In addition, Ms. Adams is overseeing the revision of the Georgia Early Learning and Development Standard which will be rolled out in the spring of 2013. She also supervises the Head Start Collaboration Office. Ms. Adams earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1995 from Georgia Southern University in Early Childhood Education and her Master s Degree in Early Childhood Education from Georgia State University in 2001. Ms. Adams has a myriad of experiences in early education. Before joining BFTS, Ms. Adams was the PreK Director for Clayton County Public Schools overseeing that county s PreK, Resource Coordination, and Early Reading First Grants. In addition, she was an active grant writer bringing over 10 million dollars in federal, state, and private grants to the county. She served as a classroom teacher with experience in preschool through fifth grade. Before working in the school system, Ms. Adams worked as a teacher and director in private child care. Lydia Bagley, BS, MEd, EdS, is a Curriculum Specialist with Pearson. Providing consulting expertise through extensive product knowledge, she plans and implements education and curriculum programs in school districts of all sizes. Prior to joining Pearson, Lydia taught for 23 years in Early Childhood Education as a Teacher and Literacy Specialist in Georgia, California, and Florida schools.
Margo Dichtelmiller, PhD, is a professor at Eastern Michigan University in the Department of Teacher Education where she teaches online and face-to-face courses in Early Childhood Education and Educational Psychology. She specializes in early childhood observation and assessment, is one of the developers of the Work Sampling System, has created professional development materials for the Ounce scale and co-authored The Power of Observation. Dichtelmiller earned her doctorate from the University of Michigan, a Master s degree from the University of Illinois, and a BA from Oberlin College. Prior to her doctoral work, Dichtelmiller taught infants and preschool children with special needs in home and classroom-based settings. Her new book, The Power of Assessment, brings together her classroom experience, university teaching, and knowledge of early childhood assessment into a readable format filled with stories from early childhood teachers that illustrate the benefits of classroom assessment. David Dickinson, EdD, is Professor of Education at Vanderbilt University s Peabody College, Nashville, TN. David Dickinson is interested in early literacy development, especially in the contribution of language to later reading ability. He has studied children s language and literacy development and developed professional development interventions and tools for describing classroom support for language. Cherry Ross Gooden, PhD, currently serves as an Associate Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Curriculum & Instruction in the College of Education at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas. This 1964 graduate of Texas Southern University earned a BS in Elementary Education, and a Master s Degree in Elementary Education with a concentration in Reading, at Texas Southern University and a Doctorate of Education Degree in Educational Leadership and Cultural Studies with a program emphasis in Multicultural Education at the University of Houston. Dr. Gooden is a dedicated, committed teacher with more than 42 years teaching experience at both the elementary and university levels. She has been a consultant for various school districts in the state of Texas as well as in the nation. Dr. Gooden is a member of many professional organizations including National Association for Multicultural Education (where she is a founding member and a past National President), Texas Association of Black Personnel in Higher Education where she served as President (2011 2013), and the National Alliance of Black School Educators. She has also been active in community organizations such as Jack and Jill of America, National Women of Achievement, Top Ladies of Distinction, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Dr. Gooden, a member of Abundant Life Cathedral, is listed in Who s Who Among Black Americans and Who s Who in American Education and is the mother of two children. Ellen Fallaw, MEd, was an elementary teacher for 18 years, with 11 years in the regular classroom grades ranging from 2 6, and 7 years as a Title 1 reading and math teacher. She earned her BS from Winthrop University and MEd from the University of South Carolina, culminating in a Master s +30 classification with an emphasis on administration, including elementary principal and district supervisor certification. Since leaving the classroom, Ellen has worked in the field of educational consulting for 22 years as both a consultant and as a manager. Ellen has been an Educational Consultant with Pearson for 15 years. She recently held a position as Adjunct Professor with the College of Charleston, where she taught a graduate level course in the integration of technology in classroom instruction, using Waterford as the key component.
Judy Jablon, MA, brings more than 30 years experience in education to her work as consultant, facilitator, and author. Originally a teacher, Judy is grounded in theory and practice that emphasize child development, observation, critical thinking, and experiential learning. She has worked extensively with a variety of educational institutions and agencies, and has co-authored numerous publications and DVDs, notably Powerful Interactions: How to Connect with Children to Extend Their Learning, Observation: The Key to Responsive Teaching, The Power of Observation, The Work Sampling System, and The Creative Curriculum for Preschool: In Action: A DVD. Elizabeth Jordan, MEd, takes great pride in presenting Pearson s K 12 digital software solutions. She has worked for Pearson for over twenty years in varying capacities: Consultant, Lead Consultant, Manager, and Curriculum Specialist. During her tenure she has won numerous awards for outstanding consultant and for her contributions to the sales team. She has taught first grade and all levels of middle school students. Elizabeth has also taught as an adjunct professor at a local college. As a teacher, she used technology as an integral solution to help meet the needs of various learners in the areas of math and science. Elizabeth graduated from the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor s degree in Elementary Education (K 8). Since then she obtained a Master s Degree in Elementary Education. She is currently employed with Pearson and lives on the South Carolina coast. When she s not working, Elizabeth spends much of her time being a Nana to her eight grandchildren. Sherri Killins, EdD, is the former Commissioner of Early Education and Care for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Throughout her career, Dr. Killins has been committed to supporting families as a two generation strategy. Recently, she has focused on developing early education and care systems for children from birth to third grade. Her efforts seek to support families as children s first teachers to have access to high quality opportunities. She achieves this goal in part through working with state systems, communities, programs, educators, and families. As Commissioner, she designed and implemented a statewide method to define, measure, and communicate quality, known as the Quality Rating and Improvement System, for early education and care as well as out of school time programs. The definition was supported by evidence in the literature and developed in partnership with the field. Dr. Killins saw four primary levers for transformation: educator quality, program quality, screening and assessment and community and family engagement. Despite difficult economic times, Dr. Killins positioned four statewide systems: mental health, educator and provider supports; community family engagement and information and referral to support the early educators, children and their families; and formal and informal early education and out of school time services. Under her leadership, Massachusetts secured the Race To The Top Early Learning Challenge to provide financial resources to accelerate the work already under way in Massachusetts. Dr. Killins is known for crossing organizational boundaries to create a child development lens on the work of informal organizations as well as within other state agencies including public health and housing. Dr. Killins has worked as an advocate for children and families in a variety of ways for more than 25 years, both as a provider of direct care and in leadership roles on issues relating to children and families. From 2006 to 2009, Dr. Killins worked at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, an organization that promotes public policies, human-service reforms, and community supports that more effectively meet the needs of today s vulnerable children and families. She held several roles in the Foundation. Her final position was serving as Vice President for Human Development and Operations. Prior to her work with the foundation, she served as the founding President/CEO of the New Haven Empowerment Zone,
was a mayoral candidate in New Haven, Connecticut, and led operations and programs for both the Empowerment Zone Corporation and the Family Preservation Initiative of Baltimore. Dr. Killins holds a nursing degree from the University of Pittsburgh, a master s of administrative science from Johns Hopkins University, and a doctorate in counseling psychology from the University of Sarasota. Dr. Killins has served on a variety of boards including the New Haven Housing Authority, New Haven Regional Workforce Board and Connecticut Trails Girl Scouts. She was appointed to the Regional Advisory Committee under the U.S. Department of Education and to the MA Commission on Postpartum Depression. Most recently, she was appointed to the Boston Children s Museum Board of Advisors. Dr. Killins has been recognized by several organizations, examples include: the Massachusetts Reading Association Legislative Award for her leadership in promoting early childhood literacy and Horizons for Homeless Children Public Leadership Award. Dr. Killins resides in New Haven, Connecticut and is the mother of three daughters. Gloria Maccow, PhD, is an Assessment Training Consultant with Pearson. She was trained as a school psychologist at Texas A&M University and at the University of Florida. She worked for two years as Supervisor of Psychological Services and for several years as a school psychologist with Guilford County Schools in North Carolina. She provided training for graduate students in school psychology at Indiana State University and at Illinois State University and she worked as a psychologist in private practice in Greensboro, NC. Samuel J. Meisels, EdD, principal author of WSS (The Work Sampling System ), has been president of Erikson Institute since 2002. He is an emeritus professor of education at the University of Michigan and was on the faculty at Michigan for 21 years. A former preschool, kindergarten, and first grade teacher, he has devoted his career to improving the lives of children and families. He s published more than 200 books, monographs, and articles and is the co-author of WSS, the Ounce Scale, Early Screening Inventory Revised, and the Handbook of Early Childhood Intervention. On June 1, 2013, he will become the founding executive director of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska.
Stuart J. Murphy, BFA, is a children s book author and visual learning specialist. His 16-book series for PreK and Kindergarten children, Stuart J. Murphy s I SEE I LEARN, focuses on social, emotional, health and safety, and cognitive skills. He is also the author of the award-winning MathStart series, which includes a total of 63 children s books that present mathematical concepts in the context of stories. Stuart is part of the authorship team of a number of mathematics programs published by Pearson Education. These include envisionmath, an elementary school series, digits, a new digital middle grades program, and the Pearson Prentice Hall High School Mathematics program. A graduate and honorary trustee of the Rhode Island School of Design, he is a frequent presenter at meetings of the International Reading Association (IRA), the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and other professional organizations. He currently serves on the Advisory Council of the Arts in Education Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Most of all, Stuart is an advocate of helping our children develop their visual learning skills so that they become more successful students. Kyle Snow, PhD, is currently Senior Scholar and Director of the Center for Applied Research, at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). In this position, he is responsible for ensuring that NAEYC positions and procedures are research-based. He provides scientific leadership for the organization. Prior to joining NAEYC in 2010, Dr. Snow was a senior research psychologist at Research Triangle International (RTI), where he was the Principal Investigator for the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Birth cohort study (ECLS-B). Prior to joining RTI in 2005, Dr. Snow was the Director of the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development Program in Early Learning and School Readiness. Dr. Snow holds an MA and PhD in Human Development from Cornell University. His areas of specialization include infant and child development, early childhood assessment, and factors affecting children s early care and education experiences and their transition to school, especially the experiences of dual language learners. Dr. Snow is co-editor (and contributing author) of School Readiness, Early Learning, and the Transition to Kindergarten in the era of Accountability (Brookes, 2007). He has served on numerous federal, state, and private advisory panels, and is a Research Connections Fellow. 800.627.7271 PsychCorp.com Copyright 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). All rights reserved. Early Screening Inventory Revised, The Work Sampling System, Always Learning, Pearson, design for Psi, and PsychCorp are trademarks, in the U.S. and/or other countries, of Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliate(s). I SEE I LEARN is a registered trademark of Stuart J. Murphy. MathStart is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers. 7201L 06/13