Program Evaluation Consultants

MI School Improvement Services consultants bring a wealth of knowledge, skills, and expertise to the area of school improvement. Our consultants are highly experienced educators, content experts, and/or staff developers who have worked with large urban schools, suburban schools and rural schools. They understand and respond to the unique needs of educators.

James Dillon

James Dillon, Senior Educational Consultant, Leadership and School Safety

James Dillon is a highly experienced, certified school administrator and teacher with a broad background in staff development, curriculum and instruction, and special education. This grounding in practice forms the core of his expertise in providing targeted, technical assistance that meets the needs of educators. He has conducted numerous workshops and been an invited presenter at regional, state, and national conferences.

Expertise

K-20 Education

  • Principal of the Year (2007), Greater Capital District Principal Center, NY
  • Authored The Peaceful School Bus, published by Hazelden, that is implemented in schools across the country to reduce and prevent bullying on the school bus
  • Administrative Leadership Award, Character Education Program, Sage College, NY
  • Educating the Whole Child for the 21st Century Award, NYS ASCD
  • Instruction, behavior management, leadership and supervision

Education

  • M.S. (1978), Special Education, University at Albany
  • B.A. (1974), English Education, University at Albany
  • Certified Olweus Bully Prevention Program Trainer

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Lee Legutko, Senior Educational Consultant, School Finance and Operations

Lee Legutko is a highly experienced Chief Business Officer/CFO, with over 32 years in school districts and 15 years as a senior management consultant for management efficiency studies and best practice process improvements in the educational public sector (18 studies in 9 states). He has also developed corporate guidelines for identifying and monitoring best business practices in public education throughout the United States.

Expertise

K-20 Education and Fiscal Management

  • Educational and corporate fiscal management
  • Business process improvement, including ERP implementation in the K-12 public environment
  • Performance Management Standards for Public Sector (sole K-12 representative on the National Advisory Commission on Performance Management for the Public Sector)
  • Organizational effectiveness and efficiency through continuous systemic improvement
  • Best practices and productivity enhancements within the educational environment and related public sector activities
  • Fiscal reviews, assessment of effectiveness and resource utilization, and staff training

Education

  • M.S. (1984), Human Resources Management, LaRoche College
  • B.B.A. (1966), Industrial Management, University of Miami
  • A.A. (1964), Accounting/Business Administration, Hershey Junior College (Penn State University)

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Joan McLachlan

Joan McLachlan, Senior Educational Consultant, CTE, Service Education, Internships

Joan McLachlan is the director of Internship Quest, LLP, an educational consulting and publishing firm specializing in career internship program development, staff training and development workshops, and seminars. Her expertise in career education, service education, internships, senior year activities, and alternative high schools began as the National Diffusion Network Project Director for City-as-School High School, a nationally validated program for experiential learning. She has designed training materials and conducted trainings and presentations nationwide, including training the “trainer”. During her twenty-five years in education, she has also taught Library Research, English as a Second Language, Special Education, Writing and English both on the secondary level and as an Adjunct at Baruch College in New York City.

Expertise

K-20 Career Education

  • Career internship education model and school restructuring initiatives
  • Change process for implementing new programs
  • Assessing local and regional needs
  • Follow-up support for new program implementation

Education

  • P.D. (1991), Supervision and Administration, Bank Street College
  • MLS (1974), Library and Information Science, Pratt Institute
  • M.S. (1972), Special Education, Hunter College
  • B.S. (1965), English, Westminster College
  • Certifications: NYS School District Administrator, Principal (High School and Alternative High School)

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Stephanie Robock, Senior Educational Consultant, ELA

Stephanie Robock has a broad range of experience in literacy, training, curriculum development, assessment, research and evaluation, and technical assistance. She has evaluated and advised a variety of statewide and local literacy and reading programs and has worked on a range of national, statewide, and local initiatives in areas such as learning processes and environments, reading and literacy, career and technical education. Stephanie has provided training in instrumentation used in reading classroom/teacher evaluations and nation-wide pilot research studies. She has presented papers at national and international conferences and workshops for universities, professional development institutes, and professional associations.

Expertise

K-20 ELA

  • Developing literacy instruments, including Classroom & Intervention Reading Instruction Observation Form (CIRIO)
  • Literacy-based Action Research Projects
  • Curriculum development for elementary, middle, and high school students
  • Literacy, language development, and learning
  • Program improvement recommendations for state and national literacy evaluation studies

Education

  • Ph.D. (2006), Language, Literacy & Learning, Fordham University
  • M.A. (1979), Counselor Education (Counseling Psychology), New York University
  • B.A. (1974), Cultural Anthropology, Lehman College (CUNY)
  • NCC (1985 to present), Nationally Certified Counselor

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Vincent Tarsio

Vincent Tarsio, Senior Educational Consultant, Comprehensive Planning, Data Driven Decisions

Vincent Tarsio has over twenty-five years of experience promoting school reform and providing comprehensive school improvement support for New York City Public Schools. He also has served as an Educational Consultant for the United Federation of Teachers and has conducted professional development for school teams across the United States. Most recently, Vincent served as the Executive Director of the New York City Title 1 Regional School Support Center.

Expertise

K-12 Comprehensive Planning, Data Driven Decisions

  • Coordinating a system wide network of support for Schools In Need of Improvement
  • Extensive experience in providing technical assistance and professional development to New York City Public Schools in all areas of comprehensive school improvement
  • Knowledge of federal and state programmatic requirements for No Child Left Behind, Title I and Title III and the instruction of students with disabilities
  • Experience in supporting schools with diverse student populations
  • Ability to guide and organize curriculum development, assessment, data driven decision-making and planning
  • Knowledge of current, research based best practices in the field of education
  • Ability to provide training to school teams in the areas of curriculum development and alignment, use of summative and formative assessments
  • Technical assistance and professional development for school teams in the areas of communication skills, team building and managing effective meetings
  • Expertise in the areas of school based budgeting and resource allocation targeting areas for improved student achievement

Education

  • M.A. (1974), Secondary School Education, The City College of New York
  • B.A. (1972), English, The City College of New York

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Dee Torre, Senior Educational Consultant, Needs Assessments, Curriculum Audits

Dee Torre was a highly experienced school and district administrator and teacher whose practical experience has shaped her government policy and statewide research experiences. She has conducted statewide reading program evaluations in (7) states and fourteen school performance and evaluation studies in (6) states and these efforts encompassed large urban, rural and high poverty districts. Dee has conducted performance audits of school districts to assess not only student performance but also the education delivery systems, operation systems and fiscal efficacy of school districts. Notably, she had a lead role in the evaluation of a comprehensive P-20 professional development system. Dee has made numerous presentations at state and national conferences.

Expertise

K-20 Education and School Change/Reform

  • Title I school and district improvement planning
  • Educational program delivery
  • School Performance Evaluation and Technical Assistance
  • School Reform program evaluation and technical assistance
  • Data Management Systems
  • Professional Development Program Evaluation & Research
  • Special education
  • Reading

Education

  • Ph.D. (1996), Educational Administration and Policy Studies, State University of New York at Albany
  • M.S. (1978), Special Education, College of Saint Rose, Albany, New York
  • B.S. (1974), Elementary Education/Psychology, Russell Sage College, Troy, New York
  • NYS School District Superintendent’s Certification (1994)

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