Other Notable Accomplishments

"Education has always been the focal point of my career. I began as a classroom teacher, and over the course of my career I have become a leader in K-12 and higher education administration, a professor, a dean, a mother, a public speaker, and an author."

• 2005-2007: Performance Pay Plans. Led development of Florida’s performance pay plans for teachers. Both E-Comp (Effectiveness Compensation) and STAR (Special Teachers Are Rewarded) based teacher bonuses on the learning gains of their students. Worked with multiple constituencies and members of the legislature and Governor’s office to develop and communicate both plans. 
• 2005-2007: Reorganized K-12 Division. Reorganized the K-12 Division of the Florida Department of Education to provide services to districts in a more focused, effective, and efficient manner.
• 2005-2007: Review and Revision of the Sunshine State Standards: Coordinated and directed the first-ever review and revision of Florida’s academic standards in Reading, Language Arts, and History/Social Studies. This involved bringing together diverse groups of stakeholders to ensure an open and inclusive process.
• 2005-2007: Enhanced Communication: Implemented a monthly conference call for all district superintendents and senior staff, providing for the first time ever an open dialogue between the Department and local districts. 
• 2005-2007: K-12 Innovation Fair and Conference: Changed the annual conference to become a showcase for best practices across the state. Increased attendance while reducing costs by $140,000 over previous years.
• 2005  Efficiency and Effectiveness in Minnesota School Districts: How do Minnesota Districts Compare? This report includes a new metric for comparing school districts on their relative efficiency and effectiveness. This formula uses graduation rates and per pupil expenditures to compare the relative efficiency and effectiveness of school districts to other school districts of similar socio-economic standing. (Publisher: Center of the American Experiment)
• 2004 Kids, Politics and Schools: Protecting the Integrity of Taxpayer Resources.  A survey and analysis of the laws in all 50 states regarding prohibitions on publicly-funded resources for political purposes resulted in (1) legislative recommendations for the Minnesota state legislature, and (2) the development of an online database of state laws, legal opinions, and regulations that can serve as a resource for policy makers across the country. (Publisher: Center of the American Experiment)
• 2004 Education Accountability in Minnesota: No Child Left Behind and Beyond. A statewide tour and discussion of NCLB implementation issues led to a broader discussion of all challenges to education accountability in Minnesota – including homegrown challenges. This report includes federal, state and local policy recommendations. (Publisher: Center of the American Experiment)
• 2003-2004 Minnesota’s Quarter Dollar Commission. Led the commission charged with the design of the Minnesota state quarter dollar. This gubernatorial-appointed commission solicited massive public input (both online, via mail, and in person), provided educational materials for schools, coordinated a statewide student art contest, and worked with multiple agencies to ensure the development of a quarter design that depicted natural characteristics accurately, was supported by the public, was amenable to the coinage process, and was of high artistic quality.
• 2003 Repeal of the Profile of Learning. Assisted in helping the legislature repeal the controversial state standards known as the “Profile of Learning.” Known for their lack of rigor and condemned by national experts, these standards were repealed by the 2003 legislature.
• 2003 Minnesota Academic Standards. Led the development of new, rigorous, grade-level specific standards in four core academic areas - Language Arts, History/Social Studies, Math, and Science – introducing the most open and inclusive public process ever seen in Minnesota’s education arena. Parents, taxpayers, members of the business and higher education communities, and educators worked together to determine what Minnesota children should be know and be able to do.
• 2003 The Achievement Gap. Initiated a statewide dialogue on Minnesota’s achievement gap – one of the largest in the nation. Coordinated, along with the University of St. Thomas and the Target Corporation, the first statewide conference aimed at providing educators with strategies for closing this gap.
• 2003 Reorganized the Department of Education. Formerly known as “Children, Families and Learning,” the state agency tasked with K-12 education also included childcare, transitional housing for the homeless, and the food bank. These social services were moved to the Department of Human Services and “CFL” was renamed “The Minnesota Department of Education.” The agency was reorganized to more efficiently focus on serving the educational needs of parents and the education community.
• 2003 No Child Left Behind. Negotiated numerous issues designed to help make the federal law apply fairly to Minnesota schools. Some of the flexibility negotiated (Limited English Proficient status, participation rate) set the standard for all other states. Negotiated one of the fairest Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) formulas in the country. 
• 2003 School Accountability System. Developed the first statewide accountability system that includes a five-star rating system to show academic growth and comparisons among schools.
• 2003 School Performance Report Cards. Developed the state’s first school performance report cards. These accountability tools are information-rich and provide the public with data and school ratings in multiple areas, including Academic Achievement, Academic Opportunities, School Safety, Student Participation, Staff Characteristics, and Finance.
• 2002 White House Mentoring Initiative. Special assignment to the White House/USA Freedom Corps to develop a new mentoring initiative targeting disadvantaged middle school students. This discretionary grant program seeks to involve community and faith-based organizations with middle school students in tutoring and recreational activities. 
• 2002  No Child Left Behind. Lead author of five guidance documents that translated this historic legislation into an understandable format for practitioners and policymakers. Topics include: Title I: Supplemental Educational Services; Title I: Public School Choice; Title I: Paraprofessionals; Title II, Part A: Improving Teacher Quality State Grants; Title IX: Unsafe Schools Choice Option. I also served as the lead spokesperson for the Department on most of these issues.
• 2002 Teacher/Principal Quality Grants Database. Initiated and coordinated the establishment of a searchable database for all federal grants related to teacher and principal quality.
• 1998-2001 New Century Scholars. Researched state merit-based scholarship programs across the country and designed the Virginia program based upon the strengths of those programs studied. Developed multiple funding options and a variety of implementation options. The Virginia program was announced publicly in December 2000 and was scheduled for implementation in the spring of 2001; however, the General Assembly scuttled the program.
• 2000 Mandate for Leadership. Participated with the Heritage Foundation in developing a blueprint for educational priorities for the next presidential administration.
• 2000 No Excuses: Closing the Achievement Gap Conference. Organized and coordinated this statewide conference, including selection and scheduling of all speakers, establishing criteria for award winners and local presenters, publicity for the event, and much more. The conference was modeled after the successful No Excuses program initiated by the Heritage Foundation.
• 2000 Standards of Accreditation Revisions. Played a key role in revising Virginia’s education reforms while ensuring that high levels of challenge and rigor, as well as a strong accountability system, remained intact.
• 2000 aol@school. Initiated Virginia’s involvement as the first state to participate with America On Line in this venture. Coordinated all activities in securing the Governor’s approval, establishing and designing the customized state feature function, and coordinated troubleshooting between AOL and local school divisions in the implementation of this program.
• 2000 Governor’s Arts Awards. Served as the Governor‘s liaison in coordinating this statewide awards program. Worked closely with the Virginia Commission for the Arts in developing award criteria, nominating and selecting judges, securing private funding, and approving media-related outreach.
• 2000 Virginia Education Portal. Coordinated input from multiple agencies in establishing an easily accessible on-line databank of all education-related on-line resources in the Commonwealth, preschool through adult. 
• 1998-2001  Qualified Zone Academy Bonds(QZAB). Program coordinator for all schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Managed the federal QZAB program for the Commonwealth of Virginia, including establishing the criteria, evaluating the applications, and allocating $17.6 million in no-interest bonds for all qualifying school divisions.
• 1998-2001  The Commonwealth of Knowledge Web Site. Assisted in concept development and design of this educational resource. Participating in on-going development. Responsible for maintaining the interactive discussion forum component, including management of the moderated site, providing answers and following through on requests for clarification of regulations, Code sections, and implementation of the Virginia education reform initiatives.
• 1998-2000  Century Date Change Initiative(Y2K). Member, Advisory Council; coordinated all Y2K compliance activities for the 29 agencies in the Education Secretariat, including awareness, assessment, evaluation, testing, renovation, verification, validation, implementation and contingency planning.
• 1998-1999; 2001 Combined Virginia Campaign (CVC). Member, Advisory Council; Member, Qualification Subcommittee.
• 1999 -2001  4 SAFE VA. Assisted in design of this on-line school safety resource. Responsible for coordination with local school divisions, web site server, and telecommunications providers.
• 1998 Governor’s Commission on Local School Construction. Directed and managed the Commission, including preparing and disseminating all materials for meetings, coordinating all speakers and presenters, preparing multiple presentations, and writing the final report.
• 1995-1997 Standards of Accreditation. As a member of the State Board of Education, played a key role in the development of Virginia’s increased requirements for high school graduation (student accountability component) and new student performance requirements (school accountability component).
• 1994-1995 Standards of Learning. As a member of Governor Allen’s Champion Schools Commission, played a key role in the development of the Standards of Learning, Virginia’s content-rich curriculum framework for grades K-12. Served on the committee that wrote the highly-acclaimed history standards.