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MAEC Central Office
Susan Shaffer
Principal Investigator, CEE
President & Co-Founder, MAEC
Susan has been a nationally recognized expert for more than four decades. Her transformational work in public schools has centered on the development of comprehensive technical assistance for system-wide change, training on educational equity and culturally responsive pedagogy and practice, school climate and culture, family, school, and community engagement, and multicultural gender-related issues.
Susan has led MAEC for nearly 30 years. She is the Co-Founder of the National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement, a national member of the Continuous Improvement for Equity Design team with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the author or co-author of several books, articles and publications. Her publications include How to Connect with your iTeen: A Parenting Road Map; Equity-Centered Capacity Building: Essential Approaches for Excellence & Sustainable School System Transformation; and “Using Social-Emotional Learning & Literacy Tools to Bridge the Gap During & Beyond COVID-19.”
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Daryl Williams
Associate Director, CEE
Dr. Daryl V. Williams serves as the Associate Director of the Center for Education Equity (CEE), the Region I Equity Assistance Center. Daryl is responsible for CEE’s managerial day-to-day operations and monitors program alignment with CEE’s goals and objectives. He provides technical assistance and professional development training to schools and school districts to ensure that students are given access to an equitable education regardless of race, gender, national origin (English Learners), sexual orientation, socioeconomic status or religious beliefs. Daryl recently led the development and implementation of an Anti-Racism and Equity Project in one of the largest school districts in the US.
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Mira Best
Data and Evaluation Specialist
As a Data and Evaluation Specialist, Mira’s primary responsibilities include: leading qualitative research at MAEC, including focus group and interview recruitment, data collection, and analysis; writing reports on qualitative and quantitative data analyses; and working with the Evaluation Team to develop and implement MAEC’s evaluations and reporting. She works across projects at MAEC including the Center for Education Equity (CEE), and has played an integral role in other projects including the statewide needs assessment of Maryland’s Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program (MIECHV), an antiracist audit of one of the largest school districts in the United States, and an evaluation of Girls on the Run through the lens of equity.
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Kailanya Brailey
Senior Education Equity Specialist
As a Senior Education Equity Specialist, Kailanya Brailey develops and delivers professional development to state departments of education, school districts, and schools on civil rights and educational equity issues. In addition to addressing educational equity, she provides technical assistance and customized trainings related to school improvement and/or teaching and learning that are relevant to State Education Agencies (SEAs) and Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in an effort to ensure equitable access to instruction, resources, and opportunities for all learners.
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Kate Farbry
Director of Communications and Engagement
As the Director of Communications and Engagement, Kate develops and executes MAEC’s communication strategy. She is the Project Manager for the Continuous Improvement for Equity (CI4E) Resource Hub and serves on both the leadership and strategic planning teams. In recent history, Kate spearheaded the development of MAEC’s universal services in response to COVID-19, supporting the production of a series of webinars, newsletters, and web-based resources to assist educators and families as they transitioned to at-home learning.
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Rita Perez
Senior Education Equity Specialist
Program Manager, CAFE
Rita is a Senior Educational Equity Specialist with the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium’s Center for Education Equity (CEE) and the Program Manager for the Collaborative Action for Family Engagement (CAFE). Her work with CEE includes providing technical assistance and training for state departments of education, districts, and schools to improve educational opportunities for all learners. In her role as the Program Manager for CAFE, she provides staff management, budget oversight, and liaisons with the Maryland State Department of Education and the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Rita’s lifelong commitment to educational equity focuses in the areas of systemic school improvement, professional development, teacher and principal effectiveness, instructional and school climate practices, and teacher leadership. She has served diverse learners, families, and communities throughout her career.
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Jenny Portillo-Nacu
Senior Education Equity Specialist
As a Senior Education Equity Specialist, Jenny supports the work of the Center for Education Equity. Jenny provides technical assistance and trainings for state departments of education, districts, and schools to improve instructional practices, student engagement, and family and community engagement to create supportive learning environments for all learners. Previously, Jenny served as an equity intern for MAEC and developed the publication, 21st-Century Learning at Home: A guide for families and caregivers of English Learners, to support project-based, deeper learning at home. Jenny also supported MAEC teams with gathering data and reviewing materials related to culturally responsive curricula and instructional practices.
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Kasia Razynska
Director of Evaluation and Continuous Improvement
Having moved to the U.S. from Gdansk, Poland at the age of 14, Kasia is deeply passionate about ensuring access to education for all children, especially English Learners and immigrants. Kasia has over two decades of experience working on projects requiring evaluation, research design, statistical programming and data management. At MAEC, she oversees the Division of Evaluation and Continuous Improvement and serves as a part of the leadership team. She manages MAEC’s needs assessments, equity audits, and other evaluation projects across MAEC’s portfolio. Past projects she has led include MAEC’s needs assessment of Maryland’s Early Childcare System in partnership with the Maryland State Department of Education, and the needs assessment of Maryland’s Maternal, Infant and Early Childcare Home Visiting Programs in partnership with the Maryland Department of Health. She also co-led a recent update of MAEC’s Equity Audit tool. She has presented about MAEC’s work at national conferences of organizations such as the American Evaluation Association and the American Educational Research Association.
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Karmen Rouland
Vice President, MAEC
Karmen Rouland, Ph.D. serves as the Vice President at MAEC. In this role, she provides leadership, supervision, oversight, and management of MAEC’s programs and services, as well as, collaborating with senior leadership to develop future business for MAEC. Karmen also manages technical assistance and training services to state departments of education, school districts, and schools on civil rights and educational equity issues. Specifically, she provides training on issues related to cultural competence, family engagement, equitable access to education, implicit bias, privilege, and structural inequality. Karmen has published several peer-reviewed journal articles and technical papers on issues related to family engagement and equity. Prior to joining MAEC, Karmen worked at the intersection of education policy and data at the District of Columbia Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE).
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Marianna Stepniak
Content Specialist
As Content Specialist, Marianna develops and implements cohesive organizational messaging to share the amazing work that MAEC and CEE does. She also engages in content development as the Content Lead for the Continuous Improvement for Equity (CI4E) Resource Hub. Marianna specializes in culturally responsive issues related to gender and gender identity, Title IX compliance, social and emotional learning, and continuous improvement for equity practices. She has led and co-authored multiple publications from MAEC, including the Title IX Regulations Series and the Managing Mental Wellness toolkit.
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Partner Leadership
Dia Jackson
Senior Researcher
AIR
Dia Jackson is a senior researcher at AIR who provides technical assistance, research, and professional development projects to states and school districts in the areas of response to intervention (RTI)/multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) and special education best practices. Currently, Dr. Jackson is the project director for the Arkansas RTI State Professional Development Grant and is director of professional development and coaching for the Delaware Early Literacy in MTSS Project. Dr. Jackson also serves as project director for the Vermont High Leverage Practices project which builds capacity of general educators in inclusive settings through training and coaching.
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Alicia Espinoza
Senior Technical Assistance Consultant
AIR
Alicia Espinoza is a senior technical assistance consultant at AIR. Her expertise includes coaching teacher leaders, school administrators, and district leaders through the implementation of evidence-based district and school improvement systems, processes, and practices. She specializes in school-wide design and implementation of professional learning communities, literacy in secondary and adult education, quality instruction for English Language Learners, and college and career readiness readiness and success for all students. In 2002, Espinoza was awarded the Multicultural Urban Professional Educator Award by DePaul’s School of Education for her successful work with at-risk, high poverty youth and adults. Her work extends beyond the local level, as she provides technical assistance to State Education Agencies in the development and execution of their Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plans, through AIR's federally funded State Support Network.
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Vanessa Coleman
Co-Director, Center for Education Research & Innovation
SRI Education
Vanessa Coleman, Ed.D., co-director of SRI’s Center for Education Research & Innovation, is a seasoned qualitative researcher, technical assistance designer and provider, and change management leader. Coleman’s work spans a range of education improvement topics. She employs an equity-informed approach and improvement science practices to guide her work. For example, she systematically applies inclusive and equity-focused frameworks to organizational structures, systems, processes, and projects. Her SRI projects include a study to validate a new version of a widely used teacher-child interaction assessment on several dimensions, including inclusive and equitable opportunities for high-quality interactions. She is also leading an equity review of government agency databases.
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Susan Mundry
Division Director
WestEd’s Learning Innovations Program
As a Division Director, Susan Mundry provides strategic leadership for a $72M portfolio of research and technical assistance projects. She is an expert in professional learning, systems change, educational equity, and leadership development. She directs a team leading research and coaching for the Regional Educational Laboratory Northeast & Islands and a team of technical assistance providers for the Center for Educational Equity. She is also developing a simulation game focused on Learning Forwards’ new Standards for Professional Learning.
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Equity Consultants
Velma Cobb
Executive Director
Lander Center, Touro College
Velma is CEE’s State Coordinator for New York, New Jersey and the Virgin Islands, based at Touro College in New York. Velma was the former Director of the Touro College Region II Equity Assistance Center and served as Vice President of Education and Youth at the National Urban League; Deputy Director of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF); Senior Research Associate with the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST); and the Director of Teacher Education for the Massachusetts Department of Education (MDOE). Cobb is a certified leadership coach; trained Leadership Circle Profile and Culture Survey practitioner; and a licensed Bigger Game trainer. She works directly on projects involving cultural proficiency, school climate, disproportionality, parent engagement, and socioeconomic diversity. Velma holds a BS from Brandeis University, M.Ed. from Harvard University, and Ed.D from Columbia University’s Teachers College.
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Pamela Higgins-Harris
Senior Consultant
MAEC
In her current role as Senior Consultant, Pamela's work focuses on listening, collaborating, modeling, facilitating, and advising on tiered approaches for advancing culturally responsive and sustaining systemic leadership through the lens of educational equity.
To date, Pamela has over 50 years of experience in public education and higher education, serving in roles that have embedded her commitment as an education equity leader. Her work has always focused on balancing, while elevating, the academic, social-emotional, and socio-cultural needs and interests of diverse, underrepresented, underserved, and marginalized learners ranging from Pre-K to adult, as well as the stakeholders who serve them. Pamela's decades of service include a wide range of teaching and leadership roles held in special education; professional development for school improvement; mediation/conflict analysis, restorative practice and resolution; high school university collaborative initiatives; facilitation of district-wide change and transformation; oversight of district-wide equity assurance compliance and programs; and graduate-level instruction on topics related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice.
As a dedicated lifelong learner, educator, and leader, Pamela holds a B.A. in French and an M.Ed. in Special Education from American University; and an Advanced Graduate Specialist Certification (A.G.S.) in Professional Development & Urban Education from University of Maryland, College Park. Currently, she is culminating her journey in academia via doctoral studies in the American University School of Education Department of Policy and Educational Leadership (SOE EPL) with a concentration in Social Justice.
The quality of Pam's life is enhanced by her steadfastly devoted family, the kinship and longevity of loyal friends, her cherished extended family, and the loving memory of her mother and father. The most enriching, fulfilling realm of Pam's life rests in her marriage to the love of her life, Ty, with whom she will celebrate 49 years of marriage on June 15, 2023.
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Tery Medina
Consultant
Tery is a freelance consultant and educator with 30+ years of experience. She holds an M.A.Ed. degree in Diagnostic Teaching with a minor in Bilingual Education, and an M.A.Ed. in Administration and Supervision with a minor in TESOL. Ms. Medina has a wide range of experience as a teacher (specifically with Learning Disabled, Gifted, Pre-K, Elementary and Adult ESOL students) and as an adjunct instructor (teaching ESL Methodology, Curriculum Development, Bilingualism, Cross-Cultural Issues, and English). She has delivered training and technical assistance to numerous State Departments of Education and other professional groups in the areas of Diversity and Cross-cultural Education. She is also the former Associate Director for the Southeastern Equity Center. Tery came to the U.S. as a Cuban refugee and devotes much of her professional life building bridges across cultural differences towards mutual respect and understanding.
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Michelle Nutter
Senior Education Equity Consultant
Michelle is a Senior Educational Equity Consultant for the Center for Education Equity at MAEC, a Pennsylvania-certified teacher, and former Civil Rights Investigator for the PA Office of Attorney General. With over 30 years of experience in education and civil rights law, she provides training and technical assistance to schools and communities on a wide array of issues that disrupt the educational process.
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Susan Villani
Senior Program Associate
WestEd
Susan Villani has been coaching and teaching administrators to become more effective leaders and instructors for over 30 years. Villani specializes in consulting and professional development in teacher evaluation, coaching educators to improve instruction, mentoring and induction of new teachers and principals, building collaborative school communities, and formative assessment.
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