National Center Presents: Assessing and Addressing Equitable Opportunities to Learn

The next session of the National Center Presents, Assessing and Addressing Equitable Opportunities to Learn, will introduce audience members to a 50-state equity policy scan the National Comprehensive Center is conducting in partnership with the Education Commission of the States. This session and the pending scan will prompt conversations between policymakers, practitioners, and researchers about how we might use an examination of state-level policies to reflect on current and future practices that produce equitable outcomes for students.

Learn from our panel of equity researchers and practitioners:
 
Adrienne Fischer is a senior policy analyst for ECS. Adrienne focuses on issues related to early learning. Prior to joining ECS, Adrienne covered education policy issues with the National Conference of State Legislatures and earned a master’s degree in public administration. 
 
Sarah Glover is a policy director at ECS. She leads policy staff and projects to meet ECS's mission and goals. Sarah brings more than 18 years of experience in the field of education, including as a National Board Certified teacher and in educational nonprofit leadership roles. Sarah is passionate about inspiring and supporting the growth and development of individuals, teams, organizations and communities to recognize their potential and achieve their vision.
 
Don Barfield serves as a senior equity advisor to the NCC and project lead for the 50-state equity policy scan, which the NCC is conducting in partnership with ECS. He has over 40 years experience in educational equity research and has served as an expert to the federal district court on school desegregation issues. Don was an associate director at Westat, and prior to that, president of Edvance Research, a woman- and minority-owned small business.
 
Dr. Nancy J. Hines is superintendent of Penn Hills School District (a Pittsburgh, PA suburb that includes about 3,200 K-12 students). Shortly after her appointment in February 2015, the district faced a highly publicized audit by the Pennsylvania Auditor General's Office, followed by a criminal investigation led by the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office, and was assigned Financial Recovery Status by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). Penn Hills School District is immersed in rapid reform on many fronts and starting to see evidence that reform efforts are having a positive impact. In addition to her role as a superintendent, Nancy works with the PDE team to inform equitable system change through the NCC’s Equity and School Improvement Community of Practice.
 
Chris Dwyer leads the NCC’s Equity and School Improvement Community of Practice with colleagues Donna Elam and Carol Keirstead. Chris is senior vice president of RMC Research and has a long career that has focused on literacy, early childhood, and school improvement. She leads capacity building for the NCC, including the work group on Accelerated Learning.