Dr. Christine Y. Mason, CEI Executive Director, is responsible for research, professional development, and special initiatives. She is a nationally recognized expert in the area of educational reform, teacher mentoring, and special education. Dr. Mason has made more than 500 national, international, regional, and local presentations on topics ranging from inclusion and IDEA to student self-determination and integrating the arts.
Dr. Mason has served as a researcher, professor, senior scientist in disability education, university professor, evaluator, consultant, and entrepreneur. She has also served as an Interim Principal at the Miri Piri Academy in Amritsar, India; Director of Professional Development for the Student Support Center in Washington, D.C.; a Senior Research Scientist with Cessi in McLean, Va.; and the Senior Director for Research and Development with the Council for Exceptional Children. Dr. Mason has authored more than 100 books and articles; and served as the Principal Investigator, Director, or Evaluator on over 15 national projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institutes of Health. Two of these projects focused on teacher mentoring and several projects involved best practices implementation. She has served on many national panels and advisory committees and led strategic planning for federal and project initiatives at two national organizations.
Paul Liabenow Principal Mentoring - MEMSPA and the NAESP The Michigan Elementary Middle School Principals Association (MEMSPA) is currently offering all members a no charge mentoring program and book study programs as member benefits. A few years ago, MEMSPA realized that its services were being used primarily by white school principals in schools that were also largely white. Paul Liabenow, the executive director, worked with a team of leaders to come up with a vision for improving education in Michigan. To realize the vision, MEMSPA redesigned its programs and offerings to better meet the needs of African American and Latinos in urban areas such as Detroit. Today, 20% of MEMSPA principals are early career principals who receive services such as four years of coaching and monthly mentoring chats. Those chats #memspa.chat have become one of the best education chat experiences in the country. This valuable professional development tool allows like-minded educators to grow their professional learning network far beyond the walls of their classrooms. Miles disappear as technology provides the path for teachers and school leaders to find ideas, share experiences, and support each other. The motivation of the learning often travels beyond the twitter format and transforms into e-mails, phone calls, and even classroom collaborations. With the power of video-based tools such as Skype and Zoom, educator teamwork is at an all-time high around our country and our world. View Link 0.1 Education Chats on our resource page [insert url] to see an extensive calendar listing of EdChats.
In talking with Paul about MEMSPA's current status and where it is headed, he said "we are always visioning - looking ahead and continuously improving." To vision, not only for MEMSPA but for other endeavors such as his prior work as Superintendent of Schools in Cadillac, MI and running a small business, Liabenow always works with a small group of trusted allies. He tends to pull together a group with common interests and diverse skills, always including a business manager, someone with in-depth content knowledge, and someone with knowledge of current trends and related, competitive ideas. For his work in education, the visioning group includes principals, university education faculty, and parents. Paul shared that one of the best ways to understand the value that MEMSPA brings to schools is to talk with a few of MEMSPA members. We conducted interviews with five principals, which will be shared later in this book.
Dr. Melissa D. Patschke (Missie) Missie is principal at Upper Providence Elementary School in Royersford, PA as well as at Spring City Elementary in Spring City, PA. Both school communities are part of the Spring Ford Area School District located in southeastern Pennsylvania. Missie has served public education for over 30 years. She has taught in a variety of special and regular education programs, worked at the middle and elementary levels, and served students from both urban and suburban areas. Missie has hosted national webinars, trained national mentors, and published articles featuring best practices for schools. She has shared her messages on the international platform through exchanges and collaborative projects. She presently serves on the board of directors for the Pennsylvania Association of Elementary and Secondary School Principal and for the National Association of Elementary School Principals. Through these respected networks, Missie partners with leaders across the nation to advocate on behalf of what's right for children and schools. Missie is passionate about shared visionary practices that elevate our impact for children through whole child philosophies, culturally responsive schools, service learning, global networks, mentoring, positive school cultures, and increasing leadership capacity.
