Center for Excellence and Innovation in Education

Meet our Staff

Center for Excellence and Innovation in Education

Dr. Sharon Brown
Director
Phone: 216.523.7106
Kathleen Benghiat         
Budget Manager                
Phone:216.523.7110      
E-mail:                            
Dr. Marlene Gombach       
Research Associate            
Phone: 216.875.9909        
E-mail:
Esther P. Dean                  
Administrative Assistant   
Phone: 216.523.7112      

 

 
 

Supplemental Staff and Coaches

Assessment and Evaluation
Douglas Clay Ph.D.
2011 – 2013 Director of Assessment & Institutional Research, Chancellor University
1999 - 2010 Director of Assessment & Accountability, Reading First Ohio Center, CSU

Dr. Clay has worked with school districts analyzing and graphing their student achievement results and providing assessment training for the past fifteen years.  Starting with the Cleveland Public Schools’ Transformation Initiative and then with Cleveland State University’s Center for Urban School Collaboration and the federal Reading First-Ohio initiative, Clay has worked with hundreds of school staffs, administrative teams, and parent groups on building and understanding assessments  Transitioning from the yearly diagnostic perspective of state testing to assessment training in helping schools craft classroom assessments that are predictive of student success resulted in assessment training design to build the assessment literacy of classroom teachers. Clay was an early proponent of incorporating progress measures in student achievement and has worked with the Ohio Department of Education and the state of Ohio to refine the value-added measures used in the state accountability system.  Dr. Clay has taught graduate courses in research, assessment and leadership.

Tania Jarosewich Ph.D.
President & CEO, Censeo Group.

Dr. Jarosewich, is a school psychologist and an expert in assessment development.  She worked for many years as a school psychologist with the Cleveland Municipal School District and has since then developed her own assessment and evaluation consulting group.  She has led large-scale evaluations and instrument development for state departments of education, school districts, foundations, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations. Her expertise includes evaluation and educational assessment of literacy; science technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education; gifted and advanced placement programming.   She is co-author of the Gifted Rating Scales, published by Elsevier Publishing Inc.

Donna Snodgrass Ph.D.
FITS (Formative Instructional Training Services)
Assessment, Intervention & Evaluation, GCEDC

Dr. Snodgrass is a leader in the area of assessment practices in N.E. Ohio.  She has directed of both large-scale and classroom assessment as well as a web-based standards item bank for the Cleveland Municipal School District. Donna has served as Director of Assessment for major urban districts where she directed all of the group testing, research and the student databases.  Most recently, Donna worked on a project with Strategic Measurement to develop assessments through collaborative work with teachers on item development.  Dr. Snodgrass has taught graduate courses in Research, Assessment and Instructional Design.


 
Instructional Practices and Instructional Leadership

Larry Mumford

Larry Mumford brings over 30 years of classroom experience to the teaching-learning process.  He has served as elementary teacher, building manager, middle school teacher, intervention specialist, high school classroom literacy coach, and educational consultant.  Larry’s coaching has been in conjunction with the Ohio Department of Education, the Center for Essential School Reform, the Ohio High School Transformation Initiative, EDWorks, and independent consulting.  He has coached in Lorain, Columbus, Cleveland, Detroit, MI, Saginaw, MI, and Albany, NY.  He was nominated for Ohio Teacher of the Year on two different occasions and featured in Ohio Schools Publications. He has presented for the ODE/SIG Conference the past two years. Larry’s practical professional development presentations include Literacy and Writing across the Content Areas, Student Engagement, Differentiated Instruction, Backward Design, Marzano’s Nine, Co-Teaching, Climate and Culture, Instructional Rounds, Strategic Teaching, Direct Instruction, Lesson Design, Rigor/Relevance, Depths of Knowledge, Project-Based Learning, and the Examination of Student Work.  He has also presented on the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System and Lesson Design, including transitioning, cycles of instruction, multiple checks for understanding and Pre, Formative, and Summative Assessments. He facilitates transfer by offering one-on-one coaching with teachers, classroom coaching, actual classroom modeling, department meetings, small school meetings, PLC’s, and campus-wide staff meetings, including principals.

Diana Tuggey, Ph.D.

Dr. Tuggey has 24 years teaching experience in middle and high school of Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District where she also served as an embedded instructional coach working across content to support best practices instruction in the classroom.   She was a facilitator for eRead of AKCEL, University of Akron where she facilitated blended learning courses in Leading Learners in the 21st Century: Building e-Learning Facilitation Skills, Marzano High Yield Strategies, Building Comprehension in Grades 4-6, Scaffolding for Individual Instruction, Support for English Learners in the Classroom, Developing Adolescents’ Content Vocabulary and Word Power, Differentiating Instruction for Diverse Student Needs.   Dr. Tuggey serves as a school change consultant in various urban environments.

Donald Mastrobonno

Donald Mastrobonno has 30 years teaching experience in both middle school and high school for South Euclid Lyndhurst City Schools.  He also served as Department Coordinator for Language Arts for 13 years.  Mr. Mastrobonno has served on the Ohio Department of Education State Assessment Committee in both content development for the 8th grade reading and in OGT range finding in reading and writing.  Mr. Mastrobonno teaches professional development and college courses in a wide range of reading, literacy and writing contents including Exploring literacy Through Math Concepts, Writing to Enhance Learning and Thinking, and Content Area Reading, Writing & Study Skills.  Mr. Mastrobonno also conducted workshops in Socratic Seminars and in formative assessment at the high school (FASTER).

Amy Ochander

Amy Ochander has experience in the classroom as well as a middle school principal. Ms. Ochander was the project manager for the launch of Delta High School in Pasco, Washington.  Delta High School is a unique STEM school that is a partnership of three local school districts.  Ms. Ochander served as the Executive Director for the Washington STEM Education Foundation where she facilitated in the design of STEM schools and district initiatives.   Ms. Ochander currently serves as a school change coach in multiple urban districts where she provides classroom coaching, leadership coaching and professional learning in the areas of best practices instruction, instructional leadership, change processes, STEM work, turnaround change and implementation of Early College models.

Norman Siebenhar

David Westwood

David Westwood has taught math & science in public and independent schools for grades 7-12.  He has experience working with diverse kinds of learners across the spectrum from BD/ED, mainstreaming classes and so called regular education.  David has a B.S. degree in biology and Masters in Math Education and work toward a Ph.D. in integrated math & science / STEM education.  Mr. Westwood worked as an adjunct teaching and co-teaching STEM content and methods courses at The Ohio State University.  Since 2011 Mr. Westwood has worked as a consultant STEM coach helping teachers in K-12 school settings.  Mr. Westwood has provided job embedded professional learning around STEM topics in a cross-curricular environment and has provided follow-up coaching to support transfer to the classroom.  Mr. Westwood is particularly talented in working with struggling teachers in math and sciences.  He has worked in many district and schools including urban school districts such as Detroit, MI and Dayton OH.  

Randall Sampson, Ph.D.

Dr. Sampson ensures equity and access for students through innovative learning models. Dr. Sampson has experience at the K-12 secondary education level as an administrator, teacher and a national transformation specialist. Dr. Sampson's focus areas include closing achievement gaps through the implementation and coaching of rigorous Common Core State Standards, systemically increasing college and career-readiness, boosting graduation rates, implementing Innovation Learning Pathways, building Public-Private Partnerships through our community engagement process.  Dr. Sampson honed his skills through the Harvard University Achievement Gap Initiative and through teacher quality research with Harvard University's Dr. Ronald F. Ferguson. As a practitioner, Dr. Sampson's analysis of students’ performance data provided a national value-add approach to building sustainable learning environments.


 
Non-cognitive and Diversity Issues

Patricia Flynn Gibson

Patricia Flynn Gibson is an independent consultant working as a Technical Assistance Coach with EDWorks currently working with the WIN initiative in Birmingham, Alabama. From 2002 to 2010, she coached in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights school district as a part of the Ohio High School Transformation Initiative. Gibson served as a Regional Consultant for the Reading First Ohio Center evaluation team and has monitored grant compliance and provided technical assistance for districts state-wide. Gibson was recently chosen as "Trainer of Coaches" by Cohort I of the Gestalt Institute's International Coaching Program and awarded a National Facilitator Certificate by the National School Reform Faculty. She has been the Director of Improvement and Innovation at Lorain Community College's Center for Leadership and Education and the Associate Director of the Cleveland Education Fund (CEF). Prior to joining CEF, Gibson was Director of the Vocational Assessment Center and Assistant Director of the Departments of Health and Human Resources for the City of Cleveland. She was also Vice President of Operations for the Private Industry Council. Gibson has taught human relations to students, teachers and trainers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois and has facilitated professional development sessions throughout the nation. - See more at: http://www.edworkspartners.org/our-work/team/patricia-flynn-gibson#sthash.yP8daxaJ.dpuf

 


 
Gifted & Talented

David Dewey, Ph.D.

Dr. Dewey’s professional background includes teaching gifted and talented middle school and high school students and administrative supervisor of gifted and talented programs for several K-12 school districts in Northeast, Ohio.  His duties center on assessment and evaluation of students nominated for gifted services, conducting gifted program design and evaluation, providing professional development for gifted intervention specialists, school administrators, and parents of gifted children.   He is an elected officer in the Greater Cleveland Gifted Coordinators Association. Dr. Dewey has presented at the National Association for Gifted Children Conference and his research interests’ center on acceleration as a curriculum option for gifted and talented learners in addition to the social and emotional (influences) that play a role in gifted and talented children.  He has also taught undergraduate and graduate English Education courses at Marycrest University in Davenport, Iowa.