OUR TEAMEdVantage
Consultants are master teachers, content experts, curriculum designers,
policy analysts, and experienced administrators. They understand the content as
well as the context in which it is taught in K-12 classrooms in the
United States. While their backgrounds are diverse, the common
denominator is their committment to delivering results to help student
realize their greatest potential. Mark A. Montgomery, Ph.D., President
Mark is a career educator with 20 years of experience in teaching,
administration, and program development. From 1997 to 2005, Mark
served concurrently as Director of the Center for Teaching
International Relations (CTIR) at the University of Denver, and as
Associate Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies
(GSIS). There he designed professional development for teachers
and published award-winning curriculum units. He also founded the
International Studies Schools Association, a national network of global
educators. Under his leadership, CTIR was awarded over $2 million
in government and foundation grants and contracts, and the organization
became a national force in improving international education in K-12
schools. Prior to his post at CTIR, Mark taught government at
Harvard University and spent four years teaching US foreign policy and
international relations at the Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology, where he was nominated for two teaching awards. He also
taught in a French high school for a year under the Fulbright program,
and taught French at an American high school. He has been active
in several professional associations, and served on the board of Magnet
Schools of America. Mark holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College,
and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in international relations from Tufts
University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
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| Martie Semmer, Senior Consultant, World Languages
Martie has over 30 years experience in second language acquisition. She
has taught every level at every grade. Most recently, she
developed an acclaimed a Spanish-English dual immersion program
in the Summit County Public Schools (Colorado), and led its
implementation at the Kindergarten level. Martie is a past
president of the National Network for Early Language Learning (NNELL),
and has held leadership positions with the Colorado Congress of Foreign
Language Teachers, the Southwest Conference of Language Teachers, and
the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Langauges (ACTFL).
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| David C. Webb, Ph.D., Senior Consultant, Mathematics Education
Assistant Professor, University of Colorado-Boulder
David
Webb is the executive director of the Freudenthal Institute USA, an
international research collaborative for mathematics education, as well
as an associate professor of math education at the University of
Colorado - Boulder. His research focuses on teachers' classroom
assessment practices and the design of professional development
resources to support teacher learning. Recent research projects have
focused on teacher modification through classroom assessment, the
impact of reform curricula on student learning and achievement, and the
design of formative assessment tools. David received his Ph.D. in
curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. | 
| John Rudolph, Ph.D., Senior Consultant, Science Education
Associate Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
John
Rudolph is Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and
Instruction at Wisconsin where he also is Co-Program Head of the
Secondary Science Teacher Certification Program. He received his Ph.D.
in 1999 from the Wisconsin in curriculum and instruction and also holds
a masters degree in the history of science. Prior to his academic
position he taught physics, chemistry, and biology at both the high
school and middle school levels. His main area of research concerns the
history of science education in American high schools. He has also
written on issues related to the nature of science in the present-day
school curriculum and inquiry as both instructional method and learning
outcome in science classrooms. He is currently at work on a book-length
study, funded by the National Science Foundation and the Spencer
Foundation, that examines the way the process of science has been
portrayed in classrooms over the past 125 years. | 
| John L. Smithson, Ph.D., Senior Consultant, Education Research
Wisconsin Center for Education Research
John
L. Smithson is a research associate at the Wisconsin Center for
Education Research, where he has worked for the past ten years on
developing indicators of classroom practice and instructional content.
He has worked on several federal and state funded research projects
investigating changes in classroom instruction based upon various
reform initiatives. Studies that he has participated in include the
CPRE studies: Reform-Up-Close; A classroom analysis, and the Upgrading
Mathematics Project. More recently he has worked with a group of
states under the auspices of the Council of Chief State School Officers
(CCSSO) to develop, field-test, manage and analyze survey measures of
classroom practice. He is also directing the development of a
CD-ROM-based resource for science educators and assessment
professionals for CCSSO.
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| Paul Teske, Ph.D., Senior Consultant, Education Policy
Professor, University of Colorado-Denver
Paul
Teske is Professor of Public Affairs at the University of
Colorado-Denver, and Director of the Center for Education Policy
Analysis. Paul’s public policy research has centered on state and local
education policy, regulatory policy, urban policy, and economic
development policy. He has written 6 books, 40 articles, and 15
book chapters on these topics. His most recent book, Regulation
in the States (Brookings Institution Press, 2004), is a comprehensive
analysis of state regulatory policy. His co-authored book,
Choosing Schools (Princeton University Press, 2000), won the Aaron
Wildavsky Award for best book from the American Policy Studies
Organization. Teske’s research has been funded by the National
Science Foundation, National Academy of Education, Brookings
Institution, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Manhattan Institute,
American Enterprise Institute, Smith Richardson Foundation, and IBM
Endowment for the Business of Government. and Director of the PhD
program in Public Affairs. In 2005, Teske received the 2005
Distinguished Research Award from the National Association of
Schools of Public Affairs and Administration / American Society for
Public Administration. He also won the 2005 Excellence in
Research and Creative Activities award from the University of Colorado,
Denver campus. He earned his Ph.D. (1989) and MPA (1982) degrees in
Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and
International Affairs at Princeton University. He earned his B.A.
in economics and political science, with highest honors in economics,
from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a
James Johnston Scholar and Phi Beta Kappa. |
| Sheila Summers Thompson, Senior Consultant, Educational Assessment
Assistant Provost, University of Denver
Dr. Thompson now serves as Assistant Provost for Institutional
Research and Assessment at the University of Denver. Previously, she was Director of University
Assessment at the University of Denver for eight years. Prior to that,
she was a Lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences at the
University of Denver for approximately seven years. Her PhD is in
Higher Education Administration, with a focus on assessment, pedagogy,
and curricula. In addition to completing IPEDS and other standard
reports, she provides ad hoc reports to Deans and other administrators
for planning purposes. She also consults with academic and other units
related to assessing programs, courses, and curricula. She develops
surveys to measure student perception and satisfaction, and other forms
of assessment instruments to measure student learning outcomes. Recent
publications include “Fostering Students’ Complex Problem Solving
Skills: A Glimpse at the Reflective Judgment Model” and “Creating a
Student Centered Learning Environment at the University of Denver”
(co-authored with colleagues in the Department of Engineering). Her
scholarly interests lie in the areas of assessment of student learning
outcomes, reflective judgment, and pedagogy. | 
| Frederick P. Franko, M.P.A., Senior Policy Analyst
President, The Franko Group
Fred
Franko has expertise in public and government affairs as a
policy analyst, program planner, lobbyist, and researcher. Mr. Franko
has represented numerous interests to federal, state and local decision
makers. While he has worked in a variety of policy areas,
including health and transportation issues, he specializes in education
research, both in higher and K-12 education, with a focus on state and
district textbook adoption policies. Previously, Mr. Franko
managed public affairs for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and was
Director of State Public Affairs for AORN, the national operating room
nursing association. He also implemented planning, development,
marketing, evaluation and research for the National Association of
Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA). Mr. Franko earned
a Masters of
Public and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh and
a BA from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
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| Christopher Stream, Ph.D., Senior Consultant, Public Policy
Assistant Professor, University of Nevada-Las Vegas
Dr.
Stream is specialist in intergovernmental relations and comparative
state policy. His research has focused on the relationship
between public policy and economic development, with special attention
on environmental policy. Most recently his work has moved toward
a comparative study of state textbook adoption policies. Dr.
Stream has won numerous teaching awards. He received his Ph.D.
and M.S. degrees from Florida State University, and a B.A. from the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
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| Barbara Brown, Ph.D., Senior Consultant, Social Studies
Director of Outreach, Boston University
As
Director of Outreach at Boston University's African Studies
Center, Barbara Brown has earned national recognition for her work in
education and
African affairs. She has taught at the middle school and university
levels in the US. In Africa, she has taught at the University of
Botswana and has worked for shorter periods in a number of other
African countries, including South Africa, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Benin.
Dr. Brown has prepared curriculum materials on African geography and
history for different grade levels and has led numerous workshops on
Africa as well as on broader issues of multicultural education.
She consults regularly for publishers and museums, and served on the
curriculum framework committee for the state of Massachusetts.
She serves on the national selection committee to choose the
best children’s books published in the US on Africa, and has contributed to Social Education and Social Studies and the Young Learner.
She also understand school district management: she currently
serves on the School Committee for the Brookline (Massachusetts) Public
Schools.
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| Gillian Acheson, Ph.D., Senior Consultant, Geography Education
Assistant Professor, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville
Gillian is an expert in geography education,
particularly on how students examine and learn from maps. Her
research and consulting work includes the uses of geographic
information systems (GIS) in the classroom, the links between the study
of civics and government, and students' images of Africa. She has
authored educational materials for two college-level geography
textbooks and has contributed articles to Social Education and Social Studies Review.
She is active in the National Council for Geographic Education, and has
received numerous awards for her contributions to geography
education. Gillian earned her doctorate in geography education
from Texas A&M University, and is currently an assistant professor
of geography at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.
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| Michael S. Kraft, Consultant, U.S. History and Economics
National Board Certified Teacher, Denver, Colorado
Mike is a master social studies teacher, with expertise in teaching US
history, economics, and international relations. With a BA from
Stanford and a MSc in Social Studies Education from Indiana University,
Mike has taught for over 16 years. He was selected as a Kezai
Koho fellow and as Lilly Fellow, and has honed his craft in
specialized courses at Purdue and Oxford Universities. He is
Nationally Board Certified, and has won numerous teaching awards from
both students and peers. An active leader in his district and
in his profession, Mike has given presentations at all the major
national and regional conferences in the social studies and
international education. Currently, Mike teaches AP US History
and AP Economics at Cherry Creek High School in suburban Denver,
Colorado.
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