Distinguished Guidance.
The R4S team is working closely with nationally recognized advisors, hailed as experts on schools’ and districts’ use of data, research evidence, and decision-making regarding instructional improvement.
Dr. Ronald Gallimore
Senior Advisor
UCLA
Ronald Gallimore, Ph.D. is Distinguished Professor Emeritus, UCLA and Grawemeyer Laureate (1993). He was co-founder of LessonLab (1998) and the Kamehameha Elementary Education Project (KEEP, 1969-1980) and co-creator of a model for teacher professional learning communities that would later become Pearson Learning Teams. He also co-directed the 1999 TIMSS Video Studies of Teaching. He has authored more than 130 journal articles, book chapters, and maintains an internet blog focused on teaching, coaching, and continuous improvement. Currently, he conducts research on improvement of teaching and coaching.
Dr. James O’Toole
Senior Advisor
University of Pennsylvania
James O’Toole, Ed.D. is a Project Director at the Penn Center for Educational Leadership (PCEL) and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. O’Toole has extensive practitioner experience as a teacher, principal, and former superintendent. Since 2004, he has supervised two large research programs at PCEL, totaling $8 million. During the 2007-08 school year, Dr. O’Toole worked closely with Dr. May to select and recruit a nationally representative sample of more than 300 elementary, middle, and high schools for the psychometric validation of the Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Educational (VAL-ED). This instrument is an extensive 360-degree survey completed by principals, teachers, and district superintendents. The sampling, recruitment, and incentive processes used for that effort are nearly identical to those proposed in this study. Prior to this work, Dr. O’Toole was responsible for recruiting a nationwide sample of school districts for Mathematica Policy Research Inc. for their IES grant entitled The Evaluation of the Impact of Teacher Induction Programs.
Dr. Jonathan Supovitz
Senior Advisor
University of Pennsylvania
Jonathan Supovitz, Ed.D. is Associate Professor of Education and Director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at the University of Pennsylvania. He conducts research on how education organizations use different forms of evidence to inquire about the quality and effect of their systems to support the improvement of teaching and learning in schools. His current work focuses on how districts develop a coherent vision of instructional improvement and devise systems to support instructional focus in schools, and how organizations build a culture of inquiry that supports sustained organizational learning and improvement.
Dr. Elliot Weinbaum
Senior Advisor
University of Pennsylvania
Elliot Weinbaum, Ph.D. From 2011-2013, Dr. Weinbaum served as the Associate Commissioner for Knowledge Utilization at the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. In that capacity, he oversaw the work of the Regional Educational Laboratories and the What Works Clearinghouse. He spearheaded efforts to make these federally funded resources more relevant and accessible to the policymaker and practitioner audiences. Prior to his work at IES, he was a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. His work there focused on the development of education policy and its impact on teacher and administrator practice and school improvement.