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About Performance Assessments

Local Cohort Schools

Common Performance Assessments
Staff
Christina Brown 
is the Director of the Quality Performance Assessment Initiative. She is the co-author of the QPA paper, Quality Performance Assessment: Harnessing the Power of Student and Teacher Learning.  She provides professional development and technical assistance to QPA clients and network schools on implementing performance assessments with technical quality.  Christina has an Ed. M. from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education in Literacy and is a graduate of CCE's Principal Residency Network. She has worked in diverse educational environments as a teacher and school administrator with experience in charter, pilot, and traditional school settings from K-12. She is National Board certified in Early Adolescent English Language Arts. Christina was a founding teacher and administrator at The Harbor School, Boston Pilot School, where she designed the school’s portfolio assessment system.
 
Rosann Tung, Ph.D. 
is the author of the QPA report entitled Including Performance Assessments in Accountability Systems: A Review of Scale-up Efforts.  Rosann has used qualitative and quantitative methods to study public school reform, effective practices, and student outcomes, including producing a biannual report on Boston Pilot school student engagement and performance. She recently led an analysis which focused on educational outcomes and policy implications for English language learners in Boston Public Schools. She also provides technical assistance and coaching on data based inquiry to CCE schools and coaches. Prior to CCE, she was a research molecular biologist at Harvard Medical School and then a postdoctoral fellow at the Program Evaluation and Research Group at Lesley University, where she evaluated curriculum implementation and professional development initiatives. 
 
Laurie Gagnon
is a senior research associate at CCE, Lead QPA coach, and the author of a qualitative study about performance assessment and the Pilot school experience entitled Ready for the Future  Laurie provides coaching and technical assistance to QPA clients and QPA network schools on using performance assessments with technical quality. She conducts research to build CCE capacity and assists schools, teachers, aspiring principals, and CCE coaches in effectively using researched best practices and data to inform student-centered decision-making. She has taught English in Fukui, Japan, and history at Charlestown and Framingham High Schools. She earned a Master’s degree from the Fletcher School at Tufts University where she conducted research about the relationship between power and poverty in Guatemala.
 

Dan French

is CCE's Executive Director and leads the work of developing QPA's state partnerships.  Dan is the former Director of Instruction and Curriculum for the Massachusetts Department of Education, and special educator with an Ed. D. from UMass./Amherst. Author of 1998 Phi Delta Kappan article, “The State's Role in Shaping a Progressive Vision of Public Education.”

 

Robert Frank

is the communications director at CCE and oversees the QPA publications process.  Robert has taught high school, Upward Bound, and university courses, and is committed to multiculturalism and to maintaining high expectations for students. He has written and edited for a variety of print publications and web sites. He is the author of Cain in the Classroom: The Dramatic Effects of Low Expectations in a School of High Achievers.

 

QPA Coaches

Brenda Lewis-Collins is the Director of School Redesign.  She was principal of a successful turnaround middle school in New Britain, CT. Before then, she was an assistant principal of both a middle and a high school, and a secondary English teacher. She has conducted training in data driven decision making, linking school improvement planning and classroom instruction, differentiated instruction, SIOP model for English Language Learners, and interdisciplinary instruction.

Courtney Harter is a School Development Coach.  She is a former high school humanities teacher and small school conversion headmaster. She is passionate about comprehensive school transformation as a route for greater student support and achievement. Areas of interest include curriculum, instruction, and assessment; teacher training and support; and strategic planning. MAT Tufts University.

Lynn Stuart is a School Development Coach.  She worked in the Cambridge Public Schools as a bilingual teacher, curriculum specialist, primary education coordinator and principal of the K-8 Cambridgeport School. She works with students, teachers and families to create strong learning communities. Lynn serves on the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future.

Mary Ann Connery-Simmons is a school Development Coach.  She has a special interest in curriculum development, teacher preparation, and urban school reform. She has more than 30 years experience working in the Springfield Public Schools, as district administrator, principal, assistant principal, curriculum specialist, and teacher. She has also taught a number of mathematics and education courses at Massachusetts colleges and universities.

Susan Westlund is a former QPA Development Coach who continues to consult with the QPA project.  Susan has extensive experience providing technical assistance for QPA schools’ work on local assessment systems and field testing of the Common Tasks.  Susan completed a Master’s in Educational Leadership at the University of Washington-Seattle.  She has served as a school improvement coach with the Small Schools Project/CESNW in Seattle after many years as a teacher and administrator of small schools designed for underserved youth in Alaska and Minnesota.  

QPA Interns

Maggie Ward is a student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she is studying the use of technology in K-12 schools. In addition to helping with QPA programming, Maggie assists in the design and editing of the QPA website as well as the QPA field guide.

 

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