NEPC Experts in Colorado

Leonard Baca is professor emeritus of education and former director of the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education (www.colorado.edu/education/BUENO) at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Baca is a member of several professional organizations including the National Association of Bilingual Education, Teachers of English as a Second Language, the Council for Exceptional Children, the National Association for Multicultural Education and the American Educational Research Association. He served on the editorial boards of several journals including the Bilingual Research Journal, Multicultural Perspectives, and Remedial and Special Education.

Email Leonard Baca at: leonard.baca@colorado.edu

Elizabeth Dutro is professor and chair of Literacy Studies in the School of Education at the University of Colorado Boulder, specializing in the area of literacy studies. Her research investigates the intersections of literacy, identity, and children and youth’s opportunities for positive, sustained, relationships with schooling. A primary strand of her work analyzes the presence and consequences of out-of-school life experiences and discourses of race, class, gender in students’ encounters with literacy curriculum, instruction, and high-stakes accountability policy. Elizabeth was a recipient of the Promising Researcher Award and Alan C. Purves Award from the National Council of Teachers of English.

Email Elizabeth Dutro at: Elizabeth.Dutro@colorado.edu

Margaret Eisenhart is a Distinguished Professor Emerita at the University of Colorado Boulder. She holds the Bob and Judy Charles Endowed Chair of Education. Her research focuses on the application of anthropological concepts and methods to educational settings. In particular, Dr. Eisenhart has studied culture, gender relations, and women’s experiences in education, as well as women in science and technology. During the past five years, she has been directing outreach programs and research studies related to opportunities for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) among high school students. She is a fellow of the American Anthropological Association and the American Educational Research Association. In 2004 she was elected to the National Academy of Education and currently serves on the Academy’s Board of Directors.

Email Margaret Eisenhart at: margaret.eisenhart@colorado.edu

Kathy Escamilla is a Professor Emerita at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr. Escamilla's research centers on educational issues related to Spanish-speaking language minority students in U.S. schools. She is specifically interested in issues related to the development of bilingualism and biliteracy in early elementary grades for this Spanish speaking population. Dr. Escamilla has served two terms as the president of the National Association for Bilingual Education. She is a co-editor of the Bilingual Research Journal, and has served as the chair of the Bilingual SIG for the American Education Research Association.

Email Kathy Escamilla at: kathy.escamilla@colorado.edu

Linda Molner Kelley, co-director of the Schools of Opportunity project and co-editor of the book Schools of Opportunity: 10 Research-Based Models of Equity in Action, is the former Assistant Dean of Teacher Education and Partnerships and former Director for Outreach and Engagement at the University of Colorado Boulder. In those and other roles, she has developed numerous K-16 and community programs designed to strengthen learning opportunities for students and teachers in diverse settings. A former high school teacher and administrator in a Denver school district, Linda is a champion of high-quality induction programs for novice teachers, research-based professional development opportunities for practicing teachers, and the creation of mutually beneficial partnerships among K-12 schools, higher education and local communities.

Email Linda Molner Kelley at: Linda.Molner@colorado.edu

Ben Kirshner is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His research examines how young people interpret their social context and learn how to exercise collective political agency, particularly around issues of education justice. In a study supported by the Spencer Foundation, Ben worked with literacy and science teachers to provide opportunities for students to discuss, investigate, and take action to dismantle educational barriers, ranging from hostile school climates to inadequate facilities. Ben is co-PI for an international study, led by Roderick Watts and funded by Atlantic Philanthropies, which examines community-based youth organizing as a vehicle for civic engagement in South Africa, Ireland, and the United States. He is also co-PI for a study of the role of community organizations in advancing the More and Better Learning Time agenda in Colorado. His publications have discussed youth civic engagement and activism, participatory action research, and urban education policy.

Email Ben Kirshner at: Ben.Kirshner@colorado.edu

Michele S. Moses is Professor of Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice at the University of Colorado Boulder. A philosopher by training, Professor Moses has particular expertise in policy disagreements that involve racial, ethnic, and gender diversity and equity; moral and political values; and democracy and the public good; and academic freedom. She has been serving as CU Boulder's Vice Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty Affairs since 2019, after serving as Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in the CU Boulder School of Education. She has been a Fulbright New Century Scholar and is a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association. Her work has appeared in the American Educational Research Journal, Educational Researcher, Harvard Educational Review, Journal of Higher Education, and Journal of Social Philosophy. In addition, Professor Moses is the author of Living with Moral Disagreement: The Enduring Controversy about Affirmative Action (University of Chicago Press, 2016), Embracing Race: Why We Need Race-Conscious Education Policy (Teachers College Press, 2002), and co-editor of Affirmative Action Matters: Creating Opportunities for Students around the World (Routledge, 2014). A first-generation college graduate, Professor Moses holds a BA from the University of Virginia, an MEd in higher education and student affairs from the University of Vermont, and an MA in Philosophy and PhD in Educational Foundations and Policy from CU Boulder.

Email Michele S. Moses at: michele.moses@colorado.edu

John L. Myers is an education policy consultant. He has worked with state policymakers in all 50 states on a broad range of education policy issues. His expertise is on state school finance formulas and methods to determine school funding equity and adequacy. Myers has consulted with the NEPC Price of Opportunity Project (POP) for over five years. His role as consultant includes recommending costing-out strategies and oversight of POP panels from Colorado, North Carolina and Michigan. Myers has served as Vice President of Augenblick, Palaich and Associates consulting firm. Before becoming a consultant Myers was a State Legislator, a Governor’s Policy Director, and Education Program Director for the National Conference of State Legislatures. 

Email John Myers at: jmjmleslie@gmail.com

William R. Penuel is a Professor of Learning Sciences and Human Development at the University of Colorado Boulder. His research focuses on teacher learning and organizational processes that shape the implementation of educational policies, school curricula, and after-school programs. His research has appeared in the American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, the American Journal of Evaluation, Science Education, and the Journal of the Learning Sciences. He is on the editorial board for Teachers College Record, American Journal of Evaluation, and Cognition and Instruction. Prior to joining the faculty at CU Boulder, Penuel was Director of Evaluation Research at the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International for 13 years.

Email William R. Penuel at: william.penuel@colorado.edu

Kathy Schultz is Professor of Education at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education and with the Renée Crown Wellness Institute. She was Dean of the School of Education from 2017-2023 following her appointment as Dean of the School of Education at Mills College in Oakland, California from 2010-2016. She served as professor and director of the teacher education program at the University of Pennsylvania from 1997-2010. During that time, she was the faculty director of the Philadelphia Writing Project and served on the Empowerment Board (School Board) of the Chester Upland School District. 

Her scholarly work has focused on the research, development, and dissemination of practices that support new and veteran teachers working with marginalized populations in high poverty areas. Her two books, Listening: A framework for teaching across differences and Rethinking classroom participation: Listening to silent voices address these issues. Her most recent book, Distrust and educational change: Overcoming barriers to just and lasting reform, about the role of distrust in educational reform, draws on her work in Oakland, as a school board member in Chester, PA, and leader of professional development in international settings. One of her current projects addresses dignity, teachers, and teaching.

Email Katherine Schultz at: Katherine.Schultz@colorado.edu

Benjamin R. Shear is an assistant professor in the Research and Evaluation Methodology program at the CU Boulder School of Education. His research and teaching focus on issues related to educational testing and the use of quantitative methods in educational research.

Email Benjamin Shear at: Benjamin.Shear@colorado.edu

Lorrie Shepard is Distinguished Professor and Dean Emerita in the School of Education at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research focuses on psychometrics and the use and misuse of tests in educational settings. In addition to technical work on validity theory, standard setting, and statistical models for detecting test bias, her studies evaluating test use have addressed the identification of learning disabilities, readiness screening for kindergarten, grade retention, teacher testing, and effects of high-stakes accountability testing on teaching and learning. Her current work focuses on curriculum-embedded format assessment practices. She served as President of the American Educational Research Association, the National Council on Measurement in Education, and the National Academy of Education.

Email Lorrie Shepard at: lorrie.shepard@colorado.edu

Jamy Stillman is an Associate Professor of Education in the division of Educational Equity and Cultural Diversity at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research explores the factors that shape teachers’ capacities to deliver equity-oriented, responsive instruction in high-poverty schools serving minoritized youth, especially Spanish-English bilingual students. Using qualitative methods, Jamy focuses primarily on two factors—education policy (e.g. high-stakes accountability policies and standards-based reform) and features of university teacher education—to generate understandings about pre-service and practicing teachers’ learning and work across contexts, and the implications of this work and learning for culturally and linguistically diverse students’ opportunities to learn. Jamy is also becoming increasingly interested in questions surrounding the preparation of urban teacher educators.

Email Jamy Stillman at: Jamy.Stillman@colorado.edu

Michelle Renée Valladares is Associate Director of the National Education Policy Center and Faculty Affiliate of the CU Boulder School of Education. She leads and partners in a series of projects that aim to increase educational opportunities for all students. This includes serving as CO-PI of the Research Hub for Youth Organizing and the Price of Opportunity Project, as the media and policymaker contact for NEPC, and as a member of the Schools of Opportunity Project leadership.  Michelle leads a Research Hub study of youth organizing and &youth development in California and supervises a research practice partnership with the Cuba Independent School District in New Mexico. For the Price of Opportunity, Michelle leads our partnerships with school finance advocates, contributes to research design, analysis and writing and manages the project team. Michelle also co-leads the Caminos de Bilinguismo partnership with Boulder Valley School District. Michelle has conducted original research on indicator systems, youth and adult education organizing, parent and family engagement, and school turnaround. Michelle has a PhD in education from the University of California, Los Angeles.  

Email Michelle Renée Valladares at: michelle.valladares@colorado.edu

Professor Kevin Welner teaches educational policy and law at the CU Boulder School of Education. He’s also the director of the National Education Policy Center, which works to build bridges between the research world and the broader public. Kevin has authored or edited a dozen books and more than 100 articles and book chapters, including a casebook for law school students about education law, and a book called Closing the Opportunity Gap, which is the foundation for his recent work about the importance of improving children’s opportunities to learn inside and outside of school, including the Price of Opportunity Project. Welner has been recognized by the American Educational Research Association as a Fellow and been given the AERA's Outstanding Public Communication of Education Research Award (in 2017), Early Career Award (in 2006), Palmer O. Johnson Award (best article in 2004). The Horace Mann League gave Welner its Outstanding Public Educator Award in 2018. He received his B.A. in Biological Sciences from UCSB and his J.D. and Ph.D. from UCLA.

Email Kevin G. Welner at: kevin.welner@colorado.edu

Terrenda White is an Associate Professor of Education Policy and Practice at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her work is grounded in sociology of education, and currently explores the impact of choice and competition on teachers’ instructional practices, particularly multicultural practices for diverse students. Her latest project examines the organizational conditions of charter schools with chronically low or high rates of teacher turnover, including voluntary and involuntary departures by teachers of color. Dr. White’s most recent work examines racially diverse charter schools, including the mechanisms these schools use to maintain diverse populations and the manner of school practices employed to foster meaningful integration. Dr. White is a former elementary school teacher, a first generation college graduate, and one of the inaugural recipients of the Bill Gates Millennium Scholarship in 2000. Her dissertation earned the National Academy of Education fellowship in 2013-2014.

Email Terrenda White at: terrenda.white@colorado.edu

Ed Wiley is a senior executive with over 20 years of building, leading, and advising world-class machine learning, AI, and data science teams at companies at stages from startup to Fortune 50. His research interests center around Big Data and advanced statistical analytics, systems of school accountability, teacher quality and compensation, and school choice - initiatives central to the current atmosphere of standards-based testing.

Email Ed Wiley at: ewiley@stanfordalumni.org

Terri S. Wilson is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of Colorado Boulder. Her research focuses on the philosophical foundations of education policy, including issues raised by school choice, marketization and parent engagement. Her current research explores how to balance the interests of families in choosing distinctive schools—especially ones that affirm ethnic, linguistic or cultural identities—against arguments for a common, integrated school system. She received her PhD in Philosophy and Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and was a 2012-2014 National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow.

Email Terri S. Wilson at: Terri.Wilson@colorado.edu

Adam York is a Research Associate with the Center for Assessment, Design, Research and Evaluation (CADRE) at CU Boulder. In this work he draws on experience in qualitative research methods to evaluate educational programs and support services for students. He also contributes to projects of the National Education Policy Center (NEPC). With the NEPC, Adam currently works on the Price of Opportunity project to organize and lead the qualitative data analysis procedures. Adam earned his PhD in educational psychology and learning sciences from the University of Colorado Boulder. He worked in the nonprofit sector as a program director, counselor, and grant writer. He has taught courses at CU Boulder and the University of Colorado Denver in educational foundations, education policy, and human development. Adam earned a master's in community counseling from Lewis and Clark College, and a bachelor's in psychology from Colorado College.

Email Adam York at: Adam.J.York@colorado.edu