Creating Technology to Promote Learning    

Christine Burnham, Senior Research Associate, Assessment Technology Incorporated.

Dr. Christine Burnham received her Ph.D. in cognitive psychology at the University of Arizona.  Her research has focused on language development and language processing, with a particular emphasis on reading and word recognition.  She has presented her research at several national conferences and workshops devoted to cognitive processing.  Dr. Burnham’s B.A. degree in psychology and education was earned at William Smith College, where she also acquired teaching certification in both K-6 and special education.  As a senior research associate at Assessment Technology Incorporated, Dr. Burnham’s current work focuses on item response theory, risk assessment, test equating procedures, and intervention analysis with the goal of increasing achievement in students from diverse backgrounds.

Stacie Datteri, Director of Curriculum and Assessment, Weld County School District Six

Stacie Datteri began her teaching career 16 years ago as a Pre-K/Kindergarten teacher in a small rural community on the eastern plains.  She then taught as a first grade teacher and then an instructional coach for several years.  As a Colorado native and growing up on a family farm, staying close to home has always been a priority.   So in 2005, she moved to Greeley, Colorado initially working for Weld County School District Six as the Social Studies and Literacy Coordinator before moving into her current position as Director of Curriculum and Assessment.  For the past five years, Stacie has worked on curriculum and assessment needs for the district and currently oversees the acquisition and implementation process of curriculum materials as well as the new Galileo assessment system.  Stacie currently holds a Masters in Elementary Education and a Professional Principal License.

Jonathan Dings, Chief of Planning & Assessment, Boulder Valley School District

Dr. Jonathan Dings serves as Chief of Planning & Assessment for the Boulder Valley School District, where he started working in 1998 as the Director of Assessment.  Major duties include directing district administration and reporting results of the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) and surveys of student perception, staff attitude, and parent satisfaction, as well as facilitating the use of these data in district and school continuous improvement.  Dings sits on the Superintendent’s Cabinet, and oversees fulfillment of state data reporting requirements.  In the four years prior to working for Boulder Valley, he served the Kentucky Department of Education, most recently as Group Leader, Psychometric Analysis with responsibility for evaluating the psychometric characteristics of the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System.  Dr. Dings earned his Ph.D. in Educational Measurement and Statistics from the University of Iowa in 1997, and has served on several state technical advisory committees and on two national panels.  He served on the Committee on Participation of English Language Learners and Students with Disabilities in NAEP and Other Large-Scale Assessments, which authored the report, Keeping Score for All: The Effects of Inclusion and Accommodation Policies on Large-Scale Educational Assessments.  Dr. Dings served as an American Educational Research Association representative to and co-chair of the Joint Committee on Testing Practices, a consortium of professional organizations working together to improve the use of tests in assessment and appraisal.   

Lauren Eker, Assessment Coordinator, St. Vrain Valley School District
Lauren Eker earned her B.A. in elementary education from the University of Wyoming and her M.A. in educational leadership from Colorado State University. The main functions of her position include overseeing the various assessment programs in the District which include Alpine Achievement and Galileo. In addition, she is a key facilitator for the standards–based alignment project in St. Vrain and provides professional development on data–driven dialogue.  She was a classroom teacher for 13 years in grades 2, 3 and 4.  Her last three years of teaching included assisting her school in becoming a professional learning community.  That school was able to add both weekly collaboration time and daily intervention and enrichment into its schedule with many positive results.

Jason Feld, Vice President Corporate Projects, Assessment Technology, Incorporated

Dr. Jason Feld received a M.A. in psychology from New York University and his Ph.D. in educational psychology at the University of Arizona.  His research and professional activities in child development, Pre-K and K-12 education, assessment, policy and practice span 25 years.  Dr. Feld is a published author in books, scholarly journals, technical reports and early childhood journals.  He has been a speaker at many state and national conferences and has presented the research findings of Assessment Technology Incorporated (ATI) at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., and his work on child outcomes in Head Start has been utilized on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

In his position as ATI Vice President Corporate Projects, Dr. Feld is responsible for assisting client partnerships as they create systemic change designed to enhance student achievement, for formulating and monitoring ATI responses to changes in governmental policies and societal positions related to education, and to formulate projects with K-12 and Pre-K policy implications.  Dr. Feld coordinates partnership activities between ATI and WestEd for No Child Left Behind related school improvement activities.  He establishes and maintains relationships with State Departments of Education and with Federal, and Corporate organizations responsible for education policy and practice.

Craig Mayhew, Field Services Director, Assessment Technology, Incorporated.

Craig Mayhew graduated from the University of Arizona in 1996 with a B.S. in regional development with a minor in business and public administration/accounting.  He began his career in 1997 with CEO Software, Incorporated as an account manager servicing and assisting clientele within his territory and eventually moving on to supporting larger strategic enterprise accounts which included first level technical support.  A member of the Assessment Technology Incorporated (ATI) team since 2000, Mr. Mayhew is currently Director of Field Services at ATI. In this capacity, he oversees services to current and prospective clients. He manages the Field Services component of the instructional improvement system to insure timely and responsive service to client needs.  In addition, he plays an important role in assisting large client groups with child outcome research initiatives.

Jim McIntosh, Director of Student Assessment, Colorado Department of Education Office of Standards and Assessments

Jim McIntosh was named Colorado state assessment director July 1, 2009. He began work with CDE in 2003 in the assessment office as a principal consultant for testing and data management, focused on collaborating with various CDE offices, assessment vendors, national and state leaders, and district assessment coordinators to provide meaningful, valid assessment opportunities for Colorado's students.  Prior to his work at CDE, he was an assessment data specialist in Denver Public Schools and did extensive university and government research and data analysis. In all, he has more than 15 years of experience in data and research.

Angela Norlander, Principal Consultant, Colorado Department of Education Office of Standards and Assessments
Angela Norlander played a lead role in the design and implementation of the 2008-2009 standards revision process that updated all 15 academic standards to include preschool expectations, grade-by-grade articulation, post-secondary and workforce readiness indicators, and 21st century skills. Angela has been in the classroom at the preschool, high school and university levels, and has served in executive leadership roles in the non-profit sector. She holds a B.A. from Loyola Marymount University and an M.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Joseph Sassone, LAPDS Project Director, WestEd

Joe Sassone is the Local Accountability Professional Series (LAPDS) Director, and a part of the Comprehensive School Assistance Program with WestEd. Sassone helps school districts meet the accountability requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). Sassone has helped districts throughout the United States blend research-based instructional support with data-management technology to create a customized local assessment and accountability system. District educators, through LAPDS, learn how to accurately guide and track learning — demonstrably using student data to improve their schools.

Sassone's work has been a key component in helping schools and districts raise student achievement results on state assessments. He currently provides consultation to several districts in Arizona, California, New Hampshire, Kansas, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Vermont. With the help of Sassone, LAPDS was implemented in 2007 at Noralto Elementary School in Twin Rivers School District. The staff fully implemented the reteach and enrichment classes with common formative assessments from January 2007 to present. Subsequently, Noralto has been a “school on the move” for the last three years. California API (Academic Performance Index) scores have consistently, and rapidly, risen from 672 in 2006 to 777 in 2009. In addition, the school has now met all AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) criteria.

Jerome Stiller, Director of Assessment and Evaluation, Adams County School District 14
Jerome Stiller, has worked for Adams County School District 14 in Commerce City, Colorado since 2008. Prior to this, he was a Senior Research Associate for Marzano Research Lab, a Senior Research Associate with the Center for the Study of Accelerated Learning at Regis University, and adjunct faculty for Regis University. Mr. Stiller has taught psychology, statistics, and research methods, and has presented at the annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association and the American Psychological Association. He has worked in educational, healthcare, and marketing research for over twenty years and is the co-author of several journal articles and book chapters on motivation in education.

Robert Vise, Executive Director of Assessment and Technology, Pueblo City Schools
Dr. Robert Vise has 34 years of experience at all levels K-12 as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, and central office. Accomplishments include creation of a successful alternative education program, implementation of two different student management systems in two different school districts, implementation and transitioning to a block schedule, credit recovery courses at the high school level, creation of college automotive classes in the high school, online course for high school, and the implementation of quarterly benchmark testing grades 3-10. He has also provided ongoing professional development for teachers and administrators on varies topics. His current joy is "number crunching" and providing needed data to principals and central office personnel to make appropriate instructional decisions.