Ellie Drago-Severson is a Professor of Education Leadership and Adult Learning & Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University. As a developmental psychologist, her work is inspired by the idea that schools must be places where adults and children can grow. She is dedicated to creating the conditions to achieve this and to helping leaders and educators of all kinds to do the same on behalf of supporting adults and youth. Ellie's work builds bridges between research and practice by supporting teachers, principals, superintendents and other school and district leaders in their professional and personal development and growth. Ellie is author of four recent books: Becoming Adult Learners: Principles and Practices for Effective Development (Teachers College Press, 2004), Helping Teachers Learn: Principal Leadership for Adult Growth and Development (Corwin Press, 2004), Leading Adult Learning: Supporting Adult Development in our Schools (Corwin/Sage, 2009), and Helping Educators Grow: Practices and Strategies for Supporting Leadership Development (Harvard Education Press, 2012). Learning Forward (formerly The National Staff Development Council, NSDC) awarded the Outstanding Staff Development Book of the Year in 2004 to Helping Teachers Learn, and selected Leading Adult Learning as their book for the Fall 2009. Ellie teaches, conducts research and consults to leaders and organizations on professional and personal growth and learning, leadership that supports principal, faculty and school development, capacity building, leadership development, coaching, qualitative research, and mentoring K-12 schools, university contexts, and ABE/ESOL contexts. She is also an internationally certified developmental coach who works with principals, assistant principals, district leaders, and teachers to build internal capacity and achieve goals. She served as lead researcher on the Adult Development Team of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy (NCSALL) at Harvard University and as teacher, program designer, program director, and currently as consultant, and professional developer in a variety of educational contexts including K-12 schools, higher education, adult education centers, and ABE/ESOL programs (domestically and internationally). Her work explores the promise of practices that support adult development, leadership development, and capacity building, within schools, districts and across systems. Ellie's work has been recognized by and supported with awards from the Spencer Foundation, the Klingenstein Foundation, and Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) where she served as Lecturer on Education for eight years. While serving at Harvard, Ellie was awarded the 2005 Morningstar Award for Excellence in Teaching. Most recently, she received three outstanding teaching awards from Teachers College. She has earned degrees from Long Island University (BA) and Harvard University (EdM, EdD and Post-Doctoral Fellowship). Ellie grew up in the Bronx, New York and lives in New York City. Dr. Patricia Roy is a Senior Consultant with Learning Forward's Center for Results. She works with state departments of education, districts, and schools across the United States as well as internationally. Most recently, she developed briefings and a resource guide to help schools use results from the revised Standards Assessment Inventory (SAI2) to improve professional learning. She has authored many articles and chapters on effective professional development, school improvement, innovation configuration maps, and cooperative learning. In her work with Learning Forward, Pat developed professional learning resource toolkits for Georgia; Arkansas; and Rochester, NY. She co-authored with Joellen Killion, Becoming a Learning School and with Stephanie Hirsh, Joellen Killion, and Shirley Hord Standards into Practice: Innovation Configurations for School-Based Roles (2012). For five years, she wrote columns about implementing the Standards for Professional Development for The Learning Principal and The Learning System, two Learning Forward newsletters. She has also served as faculty for Professional Development Leadership Academy through the Arizona Department of Education. This 3-year program developed the knowledge and skills of school and district teams to plan, implement, and evaluate professional learning. She has also served as the Founding Director of the Delaware Professional Development Center in Dover, DE. The Center, developed by the Delaware State Education Association, focused on school improvement for student achievement and effective professional learning. She also served as the Director of the Center for School Change in connection with a National Science Foundation SSI grant, a district coordinator of staff development, and an administrator in a regional educational consortium in Minnesota. Creating and improving professional learning so that it impacts student achievement is one of Pat's passions. Valerie von Frank has written extensively about education over several decades as a daily newspaper reporter in multiple states covering public schools and, over the last decade, for NSDC publications, including JSD, Tools for Schools, The Learning System, The Learning Principal, and T3. She is a former editor of JSD, worked as a daily newspaper editor, served as communications director in an urban public school district, and was communications director for a Michigan nonprofit school reform organization. She is co-author with Ann Delehant of Making Meetings Work: How to Get Started, Get Going, and Get It Done (Corwin Press, 2007). She is currently NSDC's book editor and a freelance writer and editor.
