Conference Presenters
The Leading & Leading Conference 2011 is pleased to present the following keynote and session speakers:
Tammy Heflebower
Tammy Heflebower, EdD, is vice president of Marzano Research Laboratory in Englewood, Colorado. She is a consultant with experience in urban, rural, and suburban districts throughout North America. Dr. Heflebower has served as a classroom teacher, building-level leader, national trainer, professional development director, and district leader. She has also been an adjunct professor of curriculum, instruction, and assessment courses at several universities.
Dr. Heflebower began her teaching career in Kansas City, Kansas, and later moved to Nebraska, where she received the District Distinguished Teacher Award from Columbus Public Schools. She has worked as a National Educational Trainer for the National Resource and Training Center at Girls and Boys Town in Nebraska. A prominent member of numerous educational organizations, Dr. Heflebower has served as president of the Nebraska Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and president-elect for the Professional Development Organization for Nebraska Educational Service Units. She is president-elect of the Colorado Association of Education Specialists. Her articles have been featured in the monthly newsletter Nebraska Council of School Administrators Today, and she is a contributor to The Teacher as Assessment Leader and The Principal as Assessment Leader.
Dr. Heflebower holds a bachelor of arts from Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska, a master of arts from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and an educational administrative endorsement from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She also earned a doctor of education in educational administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Dr. Julie Causton-Theoharis
Dr. Julie Causton-Theoharis is an Associate Professor in the Inclusive and Special Education Program in the Department of Teaching and Leadership at Syracuse University. Her teaching, research and consulting are guided by a passion for inclusive education. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses focused on including students with disabilities, supporting behavior, differentiation, lesson design and adaption. A former elementary, middle and high school special education teacher herself, Julie knows firsthand how inclusion leads to better outcomes for students.
Julie’s research and writing focus on best the practices in inclusive education that promote belonging in schools. Particular areas of expertise are: school reform, inclusive teacher training, collaboration, humanistic behavioral supports, lesson planning, and providing invisible adult supports.
Her published works have appeared in such journals as Exceptional Children, Teaching Exceptional Children, Journal of Research in Childhood Education, International Journal of Inclusive Education, Behavioral Disorders, Studies in Art Education, and Equity and Excellence in Education. She has a new book out entitled, The Paraprofessional’s Handbook of Inclusive Education.
As an educational consultant, Julie works with administrators, teachers and paraprofessionals to help promote and improve inclusive practices. Her dynamic presentations focus on responsive, and engaging ways to educate children with autism, challenging behavior, or any disability label within the context of general education. Lastly, she has provided independent educational evaluations in several due process hearings.
Raymond J. McNulty
Raymond J. McNulty is President of the International Center for Leadership in Education, having previously served as Senior Vice President. Prior to joining the International Center, he was a senior fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he worked with leading educators from around the country on improving our nation's high schools. Ray also is a past president of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD).
An educator since 1973, Ray has been a teacher, vice principal, principal, and superintendent. From 2001-03, he served as Vermont's education commissioner. During his tenure, Ray focused on aligning the Department of Education's work on three key issues: early education, educator quality, and secondary school reform.
Ray has presented at the state, national, and international levels on the need for school systems to accept the challenges that lie ahead. He is committed to raising performance standards for both teachers and students and to building solid connections between schools and their communities. Ray believes strongly that education systems cannot wait for the children and challenges to arrive at school; rather, schools need to reach out and help forge solutions.
Ray is the author of It’s Not Us Against Them – Creating the Schools We Need, published in 2009 by the International Center.
Susan Stephenson
Susan Stephenson retired as a principal and reinvented herself as an author, speaker, and coach after 35 years as an educator in elementary and secondary schools, and as a central office leader. An award--‐winning public speaker, Sue infuses each presentation with laughter and limitless creativity. She is passionate about universal student success and effective staff development through the lenses of trust and happiness.
Sue is author of Leading With Trust, which focuses on quality relationships, productive teamwork, and student achievement with improving the level of trust as the core issue. Increases in student achievement are directly correlated to levels of staff trust and commitment, and Sue examines the five barriers to trust and shares sequenced team strategies to build out of distrust and improve morale. Sue also coauthored (with Paul Thibault) Laughing Matters, which is as heartening as it is vital to creating successful professional learning communities.
This book addresses the effect that happiness and positive psychology have on educators in their personal lives, with students in the classroom, and as leaders and staff developers. Sue earned a bachelor of health sciences degree from the University of Guelph, a master of education from the University of Toronto, and Supervisory Officers’ Qualifications in Ontario, Canada.
Bernie Trilling
Bernie Trilling is a 21st century learning expert, advisor, author, and the former global director of the Oracle Education Foundation, where he directed the development of education strategies, partnerships, and services for the Foundation and its ThinkQuest programs. He has served as Board Member of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and co-chaired the committee that developed the highly regarded “rainbow” learning framework.
Bernie has worked on a number of pioneering educational products and services and is an active member of a variety of organizations dedicated to bringing 21st century learning methods to students and teachers across the globe.
Prior to joining the Oracle Education Foundation, Bernie was Director of the Technology In Education group at WestEd, a U.S. national educational laboratory, where he led a team of educational technologists in integrating technology into both the instructional and administrative realms of education. He has also served in a variety of roles in both education and industry, including Executive Producer for instruction at Hewlett-Packard Company, where he helped lead a state-of-the-art global interactive distance learning network.
As an instructional designer and educator, Bernie has held a number of professional educational roles in settings ranging from preschool to corporate training. Bernie co-authored the widely acclaimed book, 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times, published by Wiley. He has also written dozens of articles for educational journals and magazines and is a featured speaker at numerous educational conferences. Recently, Bernie has been researching the common practices of over 400 schools that are models for 21st century learning as part of the Hewlett Foundation’s Deeper Learning initiative.
Bernie is a lifelong, self-propelled learner. He has devoted much of his career to furthering the kinds of learning experiences he has found most engaging, collaborative, relevant, and powerful, working to make these experiences available to learners of all ages.