Our Associates

Lisa Almeida, M.S.

Lisa serves as the Executive Director of Professional Learning and also supports clients in the field. She is a recognized educator with over fifteen years of experience delivering professional development and implementation support to educators. Most notably, she is known for effective leadership and teacher coaching in the areas of standards, assessment, data-driven decision making, and professional learning communities. Lisa was national director of professional learning at the Leadership and Learning Center. She is a former distinguished professional development associate, school and district administrator, and teacher.

Lisa is a contributing author to several publications, including Navigating Assessment and Collaboration With the Common Core State Standards; Standards and Assessment: The Core of Quality Instruction; Interactive Viewing Guide; Data Teams in Action; and Ahead of the Curve: The Power of Assessment to Transform Teaching and Learning.

Alan Crawford, M.A.

Alan Crawford is a passionate and proven school site leader with over 14 years working in education. He has spent the last five years as the principal of adult education and alternative education with the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District. In his work as the K-12 alternative education principal, Alan oversees a continuation high school serving 11th- and 12th-grade students who are not on track for graduation, a K-12 independent study program, and a 6-12 community day school serving students who have been expelled or had extreme behavioral issues.   

Alan was recognized as the Alternative Education Principal of the Year in 2019 in Monterey County, California, for his work in assessment practices and his implementation of restorative practices, and for working with his team to reimagine the continuation school. As part of the assessment work, the school saw a 71 percent decrease in Fs and a 53 percent decrease in Ds in addition to the school adopting a school-wide standards-based grading system. Further, through their reimagining process, the school created an innovative new master schedule which allowed students to achieve 33 percent more credits and simultaneously participate in career pathways and work-based learning. The school was also recognized as a Model Continuation School by the California Department of Education in 2018. 

In addition to his work in other non-profit and community leadership, Alan has also taught graduate classes on pedagogy and K-12 leadership. His work as a leader has been guided greatly by his time spent studying and applying systems thinking in order to address the challenging task of moving teams from their current reality towards a shared vision. Along with his passion for serving “at-promise” students, Alan speaks Spanish and Brazilain Portuguese and spent three years living in Latin America working with NGOs in the fields of education and development, teaching English as a second language, and promoting international service-learning.  

Joshua Faden, M.A.T.

Joshua Faden is the founder and president of Community of Teachers. He focuses on raising the confidence of students so they become excited and effective lifelong learners. He has worked with hundreds of students through one-on-one tutoring, in small group instruction, and mentoring and coaching experiences. Joshua believes that behind every student there is a community of parents, caretakers, teachers, and professionals who help foster the growth and success of all students. To make sure each student’s community is strong, Joshua facilitates trainings and provides technical assistance and consultation to teachers and parents.

Joshua has more than 15 years experience as an educator in various capacities. Before founding Community of Teachers, Joshua taught third grade in the District of Columbia Public School (DCPS) System. As a classroom teacher, Joshua emphasized building meaningful, collaborative, and lasting relationships with his students and their families. Several of his students still send him updates— many years later. Prior to his work in DCPS, Joshua volunteered in a life’s skills/multiple disabilities classroom at Wissahickon High School in Pennsylvania. He also worked with special needs students in Costa Rica, and helped the teachers of the special needs school to start a nonprofit in Costa Rica that connects students with wheelchairs and other assistive devices that help to make learning more accessible. Additionally, Joshua has taught English as a volunteer in Peru and Morocco to everyone from underserved youth, to domestic workers, to adult professionals looking to learn a second (or sometimes third or even fourth) language. Recently, Joshua co-developed and co-delivered trainings for teachers in China on best practices for student-centered teaching and incorporating the principles of differentiation into the classroom.

Joshua has a Master’s degree in the art of teaching from Trinity University in Washington, DC. He is currently in the final stages of completing a book on the stories of his students and their journeys of becoming confident learners.

Tony Flach, M.Ed.

Tony Flach is an educational consultant with almost two decades of experience helping school systems lead change to improve outcomes for students. Tony believes that a quality education is the cornerstone for social equity and is passionate about supporting practices to improve student achievement. The use of data at all levels drives successful implementation and Tony has worked with districts across the country to launch initiatives and create systems to monitor and refine those actions in real time. He has experienced firsthand the difference that effective teachers, schools, and systems make in a community and believes that every school can and should be a place that he would want his children to attend.

Tony was a Distinguished Professional Development Associate at the Leadership and Learning Center, a premier services organization, for more than a decade prior to the acquisition of the Center by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He was a lead consultant in several multi-year partnerships including a state department of education, large urban and suburban districts, and collaborations between philanthropic education foundations and school systems. He specialized in making data actionable for district leadership, building administrators, and classroom teachers. Tony delivered more than 1,000 professional development engagements ranging from keynotes to coaching sessions on wide range of topics including district level planning and monitoring, formative assessment practices, and analyses of the impact of initiatives on student achievement. During this time, he contributed to the creation of and improvements to multiple professional development courses.

Tony served as Senior Coordinator for Data Support in Norfolk Public Schools, a Broad Prize-winning school system, before joining the Leadership and Learning Center. In this role, he supported district-wide improvement processes through enhanced collaboration, use of data to drive action, and improved decision making at building and central office levels. Tony worked closely with colleagues in the research and assessment office and information technology to build system-wide assessment literacy and create award-winning databases and templates to turn data into action. He also worked as a Title I Math Specialist, a school-based professional development role, and as an elementary classroom teacher.

Tara Goodwin

Tara Goodwin, entrepreneur and founder of Goodwin Group PR and Crisis Interception, LLC, brings over 30 years of media relations, public affairs, crisis consulting and public policy experience to her companies. Since founding Goodwin PR in 2002, Tara has built a company that attracts, engages and sustains clients ranging from small start-ups and nonprofit organizations to high-profile CEOs, professional athletes and coaches including six-time Super Bowl champions Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. 

She is considered an industry expert in crisis communications, media relations, strategic events and effective content development and curation. Known for her open and honest counsel, Tara helps clients develop communications programs that drive traffic, develop relationships, resonate with key audiences. 

At Crisis Interception, Tara helps clients develop strategic and effective responses to their worst-case scenarios. She advises and manages clients through active crisis situations to help them deliver effective real-time responses. She is a sought-after speaker and delivers keynote speeches and workshops for C-suite executives and nonprofit leaders to help them prepare for crises. Along with co-founder Nancy Capistran, she developed an online crisis guidebook for both planning and active crisis management. 

Tara is a driven and focused leader who partners with her clients to achieve their goals and delivers exceptional results. Since founding Goodwin Group PR, Tara was named one of Boston’s Top 10 PR specialists twice in three years by Women’s Business Boston, scored one gold, two silver and two bronze Stevie awards for Women in Business and in 2017, was an honored recipient of the Priscilla Mullins Alden “Speak for Thyself Award”. In 2018 and 2019, Goodwin Group PR was named one of the “Top 19 PR Firms in Boston” by Expertise.com 

Kate Anderson Foley, Ph.D.

Kate Anderson Foley, PhD is a transformational leader with over thirty years of experience leading public school districts and states toward equitable and integrated services for all learners. Her work has been grounded in social justice and for breaking down the barriers for children who historically have been marginalized. She has led organizational change utilizing a strategic framework that ensured guaranteed and rigorous learning leading to college and career readiness for all students.

Kate began her career as a special education teacher pioneering inclusive practices for students at risk and children with disabilities. Her work focused on creating conditions that fostered high expectations of adults for students and innovation which led to equitable opportunities for all learners. Kate's deep commitment to creating nimble and responsive systems that supported the whole child led her into administration where she advocated for local, state, and federal reform. That experience with large scale reform led to improved academic and social emotional outcomes for students, innovative healthcare models, and efficient operations.

As a senior state leader for the State of Illinois, Kate's vision of fulfilling the promise of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was nested within the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). She was an expert contributor to the ESSA State Plan where the current deficit-based system was interrupted and a preventative and nimble system created that intentionally addressed opportunity gaps for all learners, regardless of background or circumstance. Her deep understanding of equity-based school funding also contributed to a reform model for the state of Illinois.

Now as CEO of The Education Policy & Practice Group, Kate partners with local, state, and national organizations, education agencies, and various industries providing her expertise with strategic planning, asset-based education policies and practices, and consulting. Kate also works closely with senior leadership across various business sectors providing executive coaching aimed at creating growth-minded organizational cultures.

David Gleason, Ph.D.  

Dr. David Gleason is a clinical psychologist who provides counseling and consulting services, as well as neuropsychological assessments, within public, independent, and international schools. Dr. Gleason served as Administrative Director of Student Support Services at St. Paul's School in New Hampshire before opening his own practice in Concord, Massachusetts in 2000. At that time, Dr. Gleason joined Concord Academy as that school's Consulting Psychologist. In addition, Dr. Gleason serves as Senior Neuropsychologist at Wediko Children's Services in Boston, where he supervises pre and post-doctoral neuropsychology interns and he co-teaches a professional development seminar. Finally, Dr. Gleason has taught psychology at the secondary, undergraduate and graduate levels, and he presents workshops and seminars at schools, national conferences in the United States, and at international conferences around the world. Dr. Gleason's new book, At What Cost? Defending Adolescent Development in Fiercely Competitive Schools, is scheduled for release in January, 2017. 

Kim Marshall, M.Ed. 

Kim Marshall was sixth-grade teacher, central office curriculum director, and elementary principal in the Boston Public Schools for 32 years. Since 2002, Kim has provided one-on-one coaching for principals, often in New York City in affiliation with New Leaders (www.newleaders.org), a non-profit that recruits, trains, and supports urban principals. In addition, Kim consults, speaks, and teaches courses for school leaders, with a special focus on teacher supervision and evaluation, time management, the effective use of student assessments, and curriculum unit design. Kim also writes The Marshall Memo, a weekly summary of helpful articles for principals, teachers, superintendents, and other educators (www.marshallmemo.com). Kim is the author of a number of articles and books, including Rethinking Teacher Supervision and Evaluation (Jossey-Bass, 2013).

Brian McNulty, Ph.D

Dr. McNulty brings 30 years of experience as a nationally recognized educator in leadership development. He has served in a variety of positions at both the district and state levels. His work and writing have been featured in books, scholarly journals, and periodicals worldwide. An author of more than 40 publications, his most recent publication is Leaders Make It Happen! An Administrator's Guide to Data Teams. He coauthored School Leadership That Works: From Research to Results with Robert J. Marzano and Timothy Waters.

In addition to being a leading authority on leadership development, Dr. McNulty's extensive experience in working with schools and districts, his knowledge of the research on school and district effectiveness, and his ability to translate this research into practical applications have created opportunities for him to work as a keynote speaker and long-term partner with school districts, state education agencies, and other educational service agencies.

Linda O'Konek, Ed.D.

Dr. Linda O'Konek has been a consultant with Creative Leadership Solutions since 2015. Dr. O'Konek served as the National Practice Manager for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; a Senior Professional Development Associate with the Leadership and Learning Center and was an Instruction and Leadership coach with the International Center for Leadership in Education. Linda retired from Norfolk Public Schools in Norfolk, Virginia, the 2005 Broad Prize winner. Her public school assignments included Executive Director of Education Accountability, Executive Director of Elementary Schools, and Grant Manager of an $8 million School Improvement Grant. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses at several universities in curriculum, leadership and supervision. 

Linda has presented at numerous conferences on the district, state, and national level. Linda has vast experience working with teachers, principals, central office administrators, and School Boards of public, charter, and parochial schools throughout the United States, Bermuda, and the US Virgin Islands. She provides dynamic professional development in the areas of Organizational Leadership Development, The Principal Leadership Academy, The District Leadership Academy, Leaders Developing Leaders seminars, Data Driven Decision Making, Data Teams, Data Teams for Leaders, Accountability Planning and System Development, Power Strategies for Effective Teaching, Writing to Learn, Response to Intervention, Leadership Coaching and Development, Principal and Leaders Evaluation Frameworks, and Common Core. She developed several of the Leaders Developing Leaders seminars, and is a contributing author of The Principal Leadership Academy and The District Leadership Academy. 

Jo Peters, Ed.S.

Jo is former principal and senior professional development associate who now delivers professional development services to schools and districts throughout the United States. She is a highly experienced leadership coach and has coached educational leaders at every level, from district administrators and principals to teacher leaders and instructional coaches. Jo also has experience supervising and mentoring elementary, middle, and high school principals. Her work with principals and instructional coaches has helped bring alignment of professional development and quality instruction to schools with a diverse student population. Her areas of expertise include standards, formative assessment, Performance Assessments, curriculum and assessment design.

Jo is a contributing author to REAL-TIME Decisions, Educators Using FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT to Change Lives NOW! She wrote the chapter on leadership coaching for the 90/90/90 School Improvement Notebook and co-authored The Blueprint for Educational Excellence, an objective assessment for school districts to clarify the gap between expectations and reality.

Maegan Scott

Maegan is an accomplished leadership coach, facilitator, and trainer. She is an experienced racial equity specialist with more than a decade of experience working as a strategic advisor to a variety of organizations, including educational, non-profit, and philanthropic institutions.

From 2008 to 2017, Maegan worked for the Meyer Foundation in Washington, DC, where she managed a $1 million portfolio focused on increasing the effectiveness of community-based organizations. She also developed leadership development programs for non-profit executives in the DC area.

In 2017, Maegan launched a consulting practice dedicated to helping leaders navigate change, develop strategy, and build racial equity and justice mindsets. She has developed and implemented curriculum for community leaders focused on inclusive organizational cultures and racial equity.

Maegan serves as adjunct faculty at the Graziadio Business School at Pepperdine University, where she develops and teaches graduate-level courses on equity, diversity, and inclusion. She has served on numerous non-profit boards and is a frequent conference speaker on issues related to equity, diversity, and inclusion; best practices in philanthropy; and leadership effectiveness. Maegan has a bachelor's degree in international studies from American University, an executive certificate in non-profit management from Georgetown University, and a master's degree in organization development from Pepperdine University's Graziadio Business School.

Stacy Scott, Ed.D.

Dr. Stacy L. Scott is the President of the Center for Understanding Equity. He has worked as an educator, superintendent, psychologist, coach and policy maker. He consults in business, education and non-profit settings focused on strategic planning, capacity building, data driven performance and leadership development. His early research focused on adolescent resilience. He wrote Making Equity Work as a guide for leaders to manage change, increase equity and improve the performance of students and schools. He began his career as a teacher and an educational administrator at the K-12 level. He has worked as an Assistant Superintendent and Superintendent in several districts. He enjoys working on equity and leadership capacity building issues in K-12 and higher education. Dr. Scott sums up his life theme as if it was in pursuit of a single question about how we manage our performance or that of others in the face of obstacles - ‘Why do some succeed while others do not?’

Dr. Scott’s career has focused on improving public education through innovative practices drawn from his wide- ranging experiences as a leading professional in business, education and healthcare. A former teacher, licensed psychologist, author, business leader and policy maker, Dr. Scott brings a unique combination of practical experiences and solid preparation to his leadership endeavors.

Dr. Scott’s received a B.A. in International Government with an emphasis in Spanish language and culture from Harvard College. He is proficient in Spanish, and has made improving services to English Language Learners an important emphasis in his career. In college, he focused on the educational and political systems of Germany, Brazil and the Middle East. His next area of study was in theology and pastoral counseling at Gordon Theological Seminary and Harvard Divinity School. Transferring many of these courses into the doctoral degree in psychology from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, he focused on community psychology and adolescent development.

William Sternberg, Ed.D. 

Dr. Bill Sternberg has over 20 years of experience as a special education teacher, principal, state-level administrator, and assistant superintendent. Bill has worked to develop systems of success in every position he has held, including the development of effective Intervention Assistance Teams, Response to Intervention strategies, Building Leadership Teams, Teacher-Based Teams, Assessment and Data Literacy, and many others. Bill helps districts understand new initiatives and enhance best practices for the success of all involved.  He is passionate about improving student outcomes by developing teacher and administrative leaders.

Bill began his career as a special education teacher for students with behavioral and learning challenges in Toledo Public Schools. He worked to create thematic units of instruction that consistently applied to students’ everyday lives to further instill learning goals. Versed in Individual Education Planning and writing, Bill worked to bring a heightened understanding of special education goals through data analysis and assessment literacy in each building where he was a principal. Bill was the project director of the Ohio Teacher Incentive Fund, a $58 million federal grant at the Ohio Department of Education. In this role, he worked with 23 school districts in their professional learning journey around successful team approaches while focusing on assessment literacy and data analysis. Bill presented professional development sessions designed to enhance existing district systems for heightened levels of success and meaning.

Bill strongly believes in the leadership development of teachers and administrators through a focused lens of continual learning and understanding of best practices. His passion for individual and team learning is evident in his approach of delivering professional development presentations that  include humor as a means for audience members to have fun in their learning journey.  Bill’s doctoral dissertation focused on authenticity of feedback in teacher evaluation systems, which illustrated a true desire to change instruction based upon the perception of the authenticity of the evaluator’s feedback across a sampling of Ohio school typologies. Bill’s diverse background as a teacher, administrator and researcher allows him to enjoy the ability to relate to audience members in every presentation he provides.    

Michael Wasta, Ph.D. 

Dr. Wasta has 39 years of experience in public education all in the Bristol CT public schools. He served as a regular classroom teacher, special education teacher, special education administrator, deputy superintendent, superintendent of schools. As deputy superintendent/superintendent he led the district through a multi- year comprehensive reform process that resulted in dramatic improvement in student performance.

Michael was a consultant for the Leadership and Learning Center in Denver, CO for 8 years, making presentations nationwide and outside of the country on systemic reform, holistic accountability and data teams.

As a consultant to the Connecticut State Department of Education for five years he lead in the design and implementation of the Connecticut Accountability for Learning Initiative, a statewide systemic reform program designed to improve student performance in the state’s lowest performing districts. This program, modeled after the Bristol process, produced documented results indicating that the performance gap between urban districts and suburban districts began to close.