Speaker Biographies
Sally Baker, M.Ed., was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina. She attended and earned her B.S. in Special Education from Winthrop University. From there, she continued her education at the University of South Carolina and earned her M.Ed. in Language and Literacy. After completing her educational degrees, Sally went on to become a Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS) while working at Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina, where she worked for 7 years. After she married her husband, they moved to Los Angeles, California, where she continued working in health care as a CCLS at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for 4 years before having her first son and moving back to Columbia. Upon moving back to Columbia, Sally began working for Family Connection of South Carolina in June 2018 as a Family Engagement Manager. Currently, Sally is the Director of Family Engagement at Family Connection of South Carolina, continuing to help serve and support families in the community and around the State.
Amber Benedict, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, part of Arizona State University. Her work focuses on inclusive and collaborative instruction and supporting general and special education teachers who work with students who struggle to read. In addition, she studies teacher instructional quality and supporting teams of teachers in effective instruction.
Julie Esparza Brown, Ed.D., is a professor in the Department of Special Education at Portland State University. Her research interests focus on the intersection of bilingual education and special education. Currently, she is principal investigator of a 4-year model demonstration grant through the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Programs to investigate culturally and linguistically responsive literacy interventions with an MTSS framework for English learner students at risk for or with disabilities. She has also been principal investigator on three Federal personnel preparation grants to prepare bilingual teachers in general education and special education. Dr. Brown recently completed a 4-year term as an elected school board member in the largest district in Oregon. She regularly consults locally and nationally on equity, distinguishing between language difference and language disability for English learner students and culturally and linguistically responsive multitiered systems of support. Her most recent co-authored book, Supporting English Learners in the Classroom: Distinguishing Language Acquisition from Learning Disabilities, is available through Teachers College Press.
Mary Brownell, Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor of Special Education at the University of Florida and Director of the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR) Center. Her research interests include teacher education, teacher assessment, and professional development, primarily in the area of reading. She has won multiple national awards for her efforts to improve the education of teachers, including the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education’s David G. Imig Award for Distinguished Achievement in Teacher Education and the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division for Research’s Kauffman-Hallahan-Pullen Distinguished Researcher Award.
Michelle Elia is one of two Ohio Literacy Leads for the Ohio Department of Education, working with district administrators, teachers, and regional consultants across the State. Elia is a board member of the Northern Ohio branch of the International Dyslexia Association, a member of the Ohio coalition of the What Matters Now Network, a Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling trainer, and a literacy adviser at Youngstown State and Walsh universities. Elia is passionate about literacy, the science of reading, and evidence-based instructional practices that are inclusive of all students.
Leticia Romero Grimaldo, Ph.D., currently serves as the principal investigator for the English Learner Institute for Teaching and Excellence (Project ELITE²) at The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk at the University of Texas at Austin. The project, funded by the Office of Special Education Programs, is designed to develop, implement, and evaluate tiered intervention models for students who are English learners (ELs) with and without learning disabilities. She is also co–principal investigator for Collective Capacity (Project C2), which is funded by the Institute of Education Sciences and has a goal of developing, refining, and piloting a job-embedded professional learning model focused on increasing the quality of language and literacy instruction for ELs. Dr. Grimaldo has extensive experience developing and providing professional development in the areas of school leadership, meeting the needs of ELs, and facilitating change in schools.
Amy Holbert is a Licensed Independent Social Worker of Clinical Practice (LISW-CP) with over 20 years of experience working in the maternal–child health field. Currently, Ms. Holbert is the CEO of Family Connection of South Carolina. SC’s Parent Training Information Center, a grant award by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs and SC’s Family-to-Family: Health Information Center, HRSA grant, and SC’s Parent-to-Parent. While in this role, Ms. Holbert has brought the use of evidence-based, action-oriented process methods to improve service systems and resources for women, infants, and families to her work. It is, however, the life lessons of being a parent to two children with special medical and behavioral health needs that have shaped her career path and choices. She approaches her work through the lens of a parent who has navigated the health care and educational systems for her own children.
Tanya Ihlo, Ph.D., is a Senior Implementation Specialist with the National Implementation Research Network and the State Implementation and Scaling-up of Evidence-based Practices Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She provides training and coaching around use of implementation science methods and tools to support education agencies in selection and use of effective practices to achieve outcomes for students, in particular students with disabilities. She has experience at the school and district levels as a reading interventionist, literacy and behavior coach, director of a districtwide reading initiative, and facilitator of a family–school partnership program, and she has served as co–principal investigator for a randomized controlled trial study (Project READERS) examining the impact of professional learning with distance coaching to support teacher and interventionist use of evidence-based reading interventions and the impact on student outcomes. She is passionate about supporting effective implementation to achieve equitable outcomes for students.
Nancy J. Nelson, Ph.D., is a Research Associate Professor at the Center on Teaching and Learning at the University of Oregon and the Director of Clinic and Outreach Services. Dr. Nelson is a principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on 14 externally funded projects to develop, implement, or evaluate math and reading interventions, including projects of the National Center on Improving Literacy, the Lead for Literacy Center, and the professional development arm of an Institute of Education Sciences–commissioned evaluation of multitiered systems of support in early reading (MTSS-R). Dr. Nelson is a licensed school psychologist and former special education teacher with expertise in the implementation of math and reading interventions and the use of data-based decision-making to support students in MTSS.
Yaacov Petscher, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at Florida State University, the Director of the Quantitative Methodology and Innovation Division, and an Associate Director at the Florida Center for Reading Research. Dr. Petscher’s work is focused on measurement, causal modeling, and the study of individual differences in reading using complex methodologies. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed manuscripts, book chapters, and technical reports on the development of reading skills, item response theory, and the application of new methods in education in such outlets including Child Development, Journal of Educational Psychology, Educational and Psychological Measurement, Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, and Journal of Educational Measurement. His work has been recognized by awards including the Rebecca Sandak Young Investigator Award from the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, the Dina Feitelson Research Award from the International Literacy Association, and the Educational Researcher of the Year Award from the Florida Educational Research Association.
Sarah Sayko, Ed.D., is a Senior Research Associate at RMC Research Corp. in Arlington, Virginia. Dr. Sayko is a Deputy Director of the National Center on Improving Literacy and leads the Parent and Family Strand of the center. She is also a technical assistance provider with the Region 4 and 8 Comprehensive Centers and was previously a literacy content specialist with the Center on Instruction and a technical assistance provider with the National Reading Technical Assistance Center. She was an elementary reading coach and literacy specialist in two Massachusetts school districts and is a certified K–12 reading specialist.
Wendy Strickler, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Reading Science and the Director of Teacher Advancement at Mount St. Joseph University. She is a partner on the OSEP PARTNERS Grant, a collaborative effort among the Ohio Department of Education, Mount St. Joseph University, and the University of Cincinnati to improve supports and identification for students at risk of dyslexia. Dr. Strickler has worked with numerous schools and districts throughout Ohio to provide professional learning and consultation in literacy and MTSS and support for English learners.
Elizabeth Swanson, Ph.D., has served the field of education for more than 20 years as a special education teacher, researcher, public speaker, and writer. Funded by more than $30 million in Federal and State funds, Swanson’s work at the University of Texas at Austin focuses on improving literacy outcomes for struggling readers and students with disabilities. Recently, she was the principal investigator of Building RTI Capacity for Implementation in Texas Schools, a Texas Education Agency–funded project to support RTI implementation across the State.
Carolyn Turner is an Ohio Literacy Lead with the Ohio Department of Education and works with schools across the State to implement practices aligned with Ohio’s Plan to Raise Literacy Achievement. Carolyn serves on literacy advisory boards at Mount St. Joseph University and Walsh University, where she is an adjunct professor. She also provides professional learning in literacy as a national LETRS trainer.
Susan Weigert, Ph.D., has served as the lead for the National Initiatives in Assessment of Students with Disabilities in the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Program’s (OSEP) Research to Practice Division since 2006. In her role at OSEP, she is responsible for developing and implementing priorities and guidance pertaining to the participation of students with disabilities on State assessments, including alternate assessments. She served as Project Officer on both the Dynamic Learning Maps’ and the National Center and State Collaborative’s General Supervision Education Grant projects and currently leads the TIES Center and the National Center on Deaf-Blindness. Susan works closely with the Education Department’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Office of State Support in monitoring peer reviews of State assessments and also provides resources and support to this office on policy and implementation issues as it communicates with States about assessment and reform efforts.
Suzanne Wingard has worked with Family Connection full time for over 5 years but first got connected when her daughter, Zoe, was born 13 years ago with mosaic Down syndrome. Coming from a physical therapy background, Suzanne has worked directly with individuals with disabilities and special health care needs for over 20 years. Suzanne graduated from Clemson University with a B.S. in Health Sciences and went directly into the physical therapy field. In 2015, she made the transition from physical therapy to Family Connection of South Carolina and is currently the Director of Training, a role in which she oversees the statewide workshops and trainings for parents and professionals. She has been certified as a provider of Primary Care Stepping Stones Triple P, as well as a presenter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness’s (NAMI) Ending the Silence and of NAMI’s Basics for Professionals. She is also certified as a trainer for Serving on Groups and Leading by Convening. She continues to oversee the development of trainings for parents and professionals and works directly with community partners to provide professional development in their organizations.