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Home Page > Resources > Leadership Development > Professional Development

Executive Consultant Program

The AASA Executive Consultant Program links nationally recognized experts in the use of systems thinking with school districts and school system leaders.

To work with one of these consultants, or to be considered for this program, contact MaryAnn Jobe at 703-875-0734. If you prefer, you can also download a copy of the AASA Executive Consultants Brochure. 

You can click on any of these listed skills to quickly find the AASA recommended consultants, or browse through the short biographies of each consultant at the bottom:

  ExecConsCover

Executive Consultants by Speciality

 

Aligning School Systems:John G. Conyers, Kathleen Fitzpatrick 
  
Assessment:Nancy W. Sindelar
  
Board Superintendent Community Relations:

John G. Conyers, Sharon W. Cox, Dennis W. Dearden, Lew Finch, Mary Jo Kramer, Linda Marks, Hank Rubin

  
Bond Levy Elections:Lew Finch
  
Communications:Walter G. Amprey, Fred Frances & Bill Harlow, Porterfield & Carnes, Karla Reiss
  
Curriculum: Nancy W. Sindelar, Teach for Learning
  
Executive Coaching:Robert L. Bastress, John G. Conyers, Dennis W. Dearden, Mary Jo Kramer, Linda Marks, Karla Reiss, Bill Potapchuk
  
Finance: James D. Wilson
  
Instructional Leadership:Robert L. Bastress,Lee Jenkins, Teach for Learning
  
Managing Change:Walter G. Amprey,Robert L. Bastress, Sharon W. Cox, Karla Reiss, Bill Potapchuk
  
Negotiations, Human Relations and Employees:Linda Marks,  Karla Reiss
  
Organizational Leadership:Walter G. Amprey,John Jay Bonstingl, Lew Finch, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Lee Jenkins,
Linda Marks,  Karla Reiss, Hank Rubin
  
Plan-Do-Study-Act:John G. Conyers, Teach for Learning
  
Program Evaluation:Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Mary Jo Kramer, Teach for Learning
  
Quality - including Baldrige Process:John Jay Bonstingl, John G. Conyers,
Lee Jenkins
  
Root Cause Analysis:Lee Jenkins
  
 School Turnaround: Dallas Johnson
  
Security:James D. Wilson
  
Strategic Planning:Robert L. Bastress, John Jay Bonstingl, Sharon W. Cox, Dennis W. Dearden, Lee Jenkins, Mary Jo Kramer, Linda Marks, Karla Reiss, Hank Rubin, Teach for Learning, Bill Potapchuk
  
Systems Thinking:John G. Conyers, Sharon W. Cox, Lew Finch,
Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Lee Jenkins, James D. Wilson
  
Teacher Training:John Jay Bonstingl, Nancy W. Sindelar, Teach for Learning
  
Technology:Walter G. Amprey,Linda Marks
  
Trend Data:Robert L. Bastress, Lee Jenkins, Mary Jo Kramer
  

The AASA Leadeship Development department promotes its cadre of executive consultants and their unique services to help school system leaders improve student learning.  Each executive consultant has unique expertise and offers different programs and services, including customized consulting services and educational programs.

Executive Consultants

 

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Walter G. Amprey, Ed.D.— Walter is the president and CEO of Amprey and Asociates Educational Consulting Group. He worked in both Baltimore City (115,000 students) and Baltimore County (90,000 students) School Systems for thirty-one years.  After leaving the superintendency, but before starting Amprey and Associates, Dr. Amprey worked as national vice-president for two copmanies - one providing national conferences and the other providing instructional software solutions in mathematics.  For the last ten years Dr. Amprey has lead the Amprey and Associates Educational Consulting Group.  Dr. Amprey leads a team of educators and experts in teh K-12 arena who specialize in a wide variety of areas.

His consulting services focus on:

  • Professional development
  • Effective communications
  • Effective use of technology
  • Managing and addressing declining enrollment and resources
  • Guidance and counseling for new superintendents
  • Design and re-deisgn of school district organizations
  • Development of cohesive leadership teams
  • Leadership Development
  • Sexual harassment
  • Change Management
  • Transition planning and management
  • The power of diversity in the workplace
  • Communicative tendencies of diverse groups of Americans
Robert L. Bastress

Robert L. Bastress, Ph.D. — Bob Bastress is the president of Bastress Consulting Group and an adjunct instructor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He is the former director of the Professional Growth System for Administrators and Supervisors in Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools. He facilitated the creation of the Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) panel which oversees the evaluation process for principals and supervisors. He has provided professional development for over two hundred principals on data-driven decision-making focused on root cause analyses using system targets and Baldrige tools. He facilitated the creation of the leadeship standards which are now being used by New Leaders for New Schools nationally for its residents and principals in nine urban school districts.

His consulting services focus on:

  • Creation and implementation of performance evaluation systems for teachers, administrators, and/or support staff
  • Interest-based collaboration for system and/or school improvement
  • Data analysis training focused on data-driven decision-making
  • Leadership development for individuals to become principals
  • On-going professional development for principals
  • Coaching and mentoring of new and underperforming principals and administrators

 

John Jay Bonstingl 

John Jay Bonstingl — Widely regarded as a founder of the Quality Education movement, Jay is the author of the bestselling book Schools of Quality and a veteran Baldrige examiner whose team was called upon to assist in the development of the Baldrige Office's program in education.

His consulting services focus on:

  • Quality strategic planning and development for every student's success
  • Leadership retreats for administrators, school boards, and community partners
  • The Baldrige Process for performance excellence
  • Helping new superintendents and principals to build a high-performance Quality culture from the very start of their tenure
  • Teacher training for effective student engagement in the classroom
  • Motivating staff and students to achieve at the highest levels
  • Engaging the community to fully support school district initiatives and bond issues

 

 John G. Conyers, Ed.D.

John G. Conyers, Ed.D. — Under Dr. Conyers’ leadership as superintendent of Community Consolidated School District 15 (IL), the district was awarded the 2003 National Malcolm Baldrige Award for Excellence. He is a Malcolm Baldrige Examiner, keynote speaker, administrative trainer in systems alignment and performance results and author of Charting Your Course: Lessons Learning During the Journey Toward Performance Excellence.

His consulting services focus on:

  • Aligning school systems
  • Developing effective systemic processes
  • Guiding the Malcom Baldridge Quality Process
  • Plan-Do-Study-Act problem solving processes
  • Examining school processes to get performance results
  • Confidential executive coaching
  • Facilitating board of education-superintendent evaluations

 

 Sharon W. Cox

Sharon W. Cox — A former two-term elected board member of nationally recognized Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools (MCPS), Sharon helps superintendents engage their boards in effective governance and their staff in strategic management for improved organizational and student performance.  At the superintendent's invitation, she was the only board member for four years with the MCPS executive team at Harvard University's Public Education Leaderships Project and six years on the district's Baldrige in Education leadership team.  Sharon has presented on effective practices at AASA, NSBA, NAESP national conferences and testified before Congress on educaton issues.

Her consulting services focus on:

  • Board Governance Practices that Empower Executive Leadership
  • Alignment & Accountability in Policy, Planning and Strategy
  • Creating and Sustaining a Culture of Continuous Improvement
  • District & Community Connections and Communications
  • Planning/Facilitating Board Retreats & New Member Orientations

 

Dennis W. Dearden

Dennis W. Dearden — Dennis Dearden is the superintendent of the Casa Grande School District in Arizona. His consulting services focus on:

  • Strategic planning
  • Developing leaders at all levels
  • Team building
  • Building positive school board relations
  • Creating a positive culture in the district
  • Motivational keynotes

 

e4ae Consulting 

e4ae consulting — Educators for Academic Excellence Consulting is a progressive and unique educational consulting group that offers a variety of services to enhance academic achievement, school culture, and classroom best practices.  Consultants are available to provide support for your varied staff development needs immediately.

Consulting services focus on:

  • School Improvement/Strategic Planning
  • Professional learning communities
  • Differentiating instrution to meet the needs of all students
  • Improving instruction in reading and mathematics
  • Integrating instructional technology to advance student learning
  • Using data to drive your professional learning community
  • Cultivating school leadership
  • Developing a school safety plan
/uploadedImages/Resources/_img/John_Eller.JPG 

John Eller — John Eller has had a variety of experiences in the 35+ years he has been in education. He has served as an assistant superintendent, a principal, a university professor working with educational administrators and teacher leaders, the Executive Director of a state affiliate of a national educational organization, and a regional principals’ center director. In addition, John was selected as National Distinguished Principal with the US Department of Education and the state principal of the year in 1994. In addition to the work he does in districts around the country, Eller is also the co-author of the AASA/Corwin Press book, So, Now You’re the Superintendent, the best selling, Energizing Staff Meetings, the recently released, Creative Strategies to Transform School Culture, and Working with and Evaluating Difficult School Employees.

His consulting areas include:

  • Common Core Standards
  • Dealing with difficult and angry people
  • Effective budget reduction strategies
  • School consolidation processes
  • New superintendent support
  • District and school culture
  • Leading professional learning communities
  • Employee and leadership evaluation
  • Conferencing and coaching skills
  • Group facilitation and change management skills
  • Strategic planning strategies
  • School improvement planning and implementation; closing the achievement gap
  • Differentiated instruction and leadership for differentiation
  • Confidential Executive coaching
Lew Finch, Ed.D. 

Lew Finch, Ed.D. — Lew Finch was superintendent for the Cedar Rapids Community School District from 1994 to 2004 and was named the 2004 Iowa Superintendent of the Year. Prior to that, he served as superintendent in several large, suburban school districts including Jefferson County, Colo., and Anoka-Hennepin, Minn. Finch was selected as one of North America's 100 outstanding school executives and was invited to present testimony before a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives regarding the No Child Left Behind Act. He also served as president of the Urban Superintendents Association of America.

His consulting services focus on:

  • Superintendent-board relations
  • Leadership during a crisis
  • The role of school system leadership in student learning
  • Conducting successful bond and levy elections

 

 Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Ed.D.

Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Ed.D. — Kathleen Fitzpatrick is the founding director of the Leadership for Learning Alliance, building on her 30-year career working in and with K-12 school leaders. As a consultant, she has worked with state departments of education in more than 30 states, regional educational laboratories and local school districts across the country. She has authored several publications on educational leadership, program evaluation, systemic reform and research-based frameworks for school and system-wide improvement focused on student learning.

Her consulting services focus on:

  • Program evaluation services
  • Consultation and process review
  • Identifying mission-critical measures
  • Facilitation of leadership events and planning sessions
  • Systems thinking

 

Fred Francis,Bill Harlow

Fred Francis and Bill Harlow — This highly regarded team trains professionals to speak to the news media in times of crisis or calm.  Fred, a former senior correspondent for NBC News, and Bill, a long time spokesman for the CIA, White House and Pentagon, teach individuals and groups of educators to effectively handle the press in today's lightening-paced, brief quote or sound bite environment. When your response to a reporter is reduced to 15 seconds or less, how do you insure your message gets out?  Using stories, videos and audience participation, they draw on their years in the spotlight to provide the answer.

Their consulting services focus on:

  • Media relations
  • Crisis communications
  • Print and TV interview techniques
  • Message crafting skills
  • Public affairs strategies
  •  

    Neil Howe

    Neil Howe — best selling author and national speaker, is a renowned authority on generations in America. He provides powerful insights into who today's generation are, what motivates them as consumers and workers, and how they will shape our national future. He is also a recognized authority on global aging, long-term fiscal policy, and migration.

     

     

     

    Lee Jenkins, Ph.D. 

    Lee Jenkins, Ph.D. — Lee Jenkins is president of From LtoJ Consulting Group in Scottsdale, Ariz. He is a former superintendent who now works as an author and consultant focused on standards, assessment and data-driven decision-making. Most recently, he has worked with the Jenks Public Schools (Okla.), which was awarded the coveted Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award in April 2005. Jenkins wrote the AASA book From Systems Thinking to Systemic Action (AASA members save 20% on the book using promo code AASA20).His consulting services focus on:

    • Understanding trend data
    • Root cause training
    • Establishing simple strategic plans that work
    • Using effective process data to drive the system
    • Quality tools for leading change

     

     

    Dallas Johnson 

    Dallas M. Johnson, Ed.D. – Dallas is the Founder of Lead Differently (www.leaddifferentlyva.com) and serves as a leadership strategist for educators committed to turning around low-performing schools. As a school superintendent in Virginia and Tennessee, his penchant for high velocity and innovative change resulted in rapid and substantial improvements for both the schools and districts. His consulting services focus on: 
        • Developing a comprehensive turnaround plan and implementation strategy 
        • Providing clear visible support for dramatic change 
        • Developing the skills, habits and behaviors of school administrators and team members 
        • Teaching school administrators to become turnaround leaders 
        • Helping school administrators embrace the actions required of turnaround leaders to improve student achievement, parent and community involvement and support 
        • Providing motivational keynotes
    Presently, Dallas is authoring the forthcoming books - "Overcoming the Achievement Gap: An Educator's Guide to Improving Instructional Outcomes," and "Challenging Adversity: Uncovering Courage."

     Mary Jo Kramer, Ed.D.

    Mary Jo Kramer, Ed.D. — Mary Jo Kramer served as superintendent for 20 years in three Connecticut communities of varying sizes and demographics. Prior to her tenure as superintendent, she was an assistant superintendent and as a senior policy planner and school improvement coordinator at the  the Connecticut State Department of Education. Currently, she is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at Southern Connecticut State University, and consults as a Leadership Performance Coach for the Leadership for Learning Center, an Executive Coach for the Connecticut Association of Schools and a facilitator and presenter for various organizations.Her consulting services focus on systemic, coherent, district instructional improvement to raise achievement, including:

    • Developing instructional leadership capacity and a theory of action
    • Walk-through processes and applications
    • Professional learning communities and collaborative teams
    • Supervision, evaluation and professional development
    • Data analysis, assessment, and curriculum alignment
    • Executive coaching for principals and superintendents
     Linda Marks, Ph.D.

    Linda Marks, Ph.D. — Linda Marks served for 15 years as superintendent of Golf School District 67 in Morton Grove, Ill. She was one of eight founding members of the First in the World Consortium, a mathematics and science initiative designed to produce world class student performance in mathematics and science by redesigning curriculum and implementing effective staff development. Marks has presented at local and national workshops and conferences, taught graduate level courses in educational administration and consults with school districts and administrators on a variety of topics. She has experience in both public and private education.

    Her consulting services focus on:

    • Executive coaching
    • District and building level mentoring
    • Emergency/crisis planning
    • Technology
    • Negotiations
    • Strategic planning
    • Board/superintendent relations

     

     Kitty Porterfield(2)

    Meg Carnes

    Kitty Portfield and Meg Carnes, of Porterfield & Carnes Communication — offer communication consulting and training services to schools, school districts, and other education institutions.  Kitty spent nearly 30 years leading programs in school divisions throughout Virginia, and Meg is a former K-12 teacher and administrator.  They are the authors of the bestselling AASA book Why School Communication Matters: Strategies From PR Professionals (AASA  member save 20% on this book using promo code AASA20).

    Their consulting services focus on:

    • Crisis communication
    • Engaging new parents
    • Internal communication
    • Marketing
    • Media relations
    • Newsletter evaluation
    • Strategic planning
    • Two-way communication
    • Web content

     

    /uploadedImages/Resources/_img/execConsultant-Potapchuk.jpg

    Bill Potapchuk, M.A., M.S. — Bill Potapchuk, president and founder of the Community Building Institute, has been a leading practitioner of collaborative and participatory approaches to change for more than 20 years. Potapchuk, assembling diverse teams, has led major strategic planning processes, with significant community and stakeholder participation, for large urban school systems. A talented facilitator, he has also guided meetings in a wide range of settings, including executive retreats, community discussions, large town halls, and board retreats. Potapchuk is widely published and has chapters in field-defining books on consensus building, collaborative leadership, and deliberative democracy.

    The Community Building Institute's consulting services focus on:

    • Strategic planning and large-scale change processes
    • Building and strengthening school, district, and community partnerships
    • Facilitating meetings, retreats, and community conversations
    • Resolving conflict and building consensus in contentious and complex situations

     

    Karla Reiss 

    Karla Reiss — Karla Reiss is a certified professional empowerment coach. She was formerly a coordinator of professional development and director of planning for educators, having served more than 50 school districts. She is the author of Leadership Coaching for Educators: Bringing Out the Best in School Administrators.

    Her consulting services focus on:

    • Executive/leadership coaching and speaking engagements
    • Leading change consulting
    • Leadership and organizational assessments
    • Strategic and school improvement planning
    • Peak performance strategies
    • Communication planning and implementation

     

    Hank Rubin 

    Hank Rubin, Ph.D., — president and founder of the nonprofit Institute for Collaborative Leadership (www.Collaborative-Leaders.org), has been a leading voice in preK-20 education for over 20 years.  Rubin is author of the bestselling Collaborative Leadership:  Developing Effective Partnerships for Communities and Schools (co-published by AASA), which outlines the principles, assessments and tools used by the institute. He has experience as an Associate State Superintendent, Dean of Education, Distinguished Visiting Scholar, professor of both educational and public sector leadership, and elected school board membership.

    His consulting services focus on:

    • Leadership retreats and counsel
    • Building new school, district and community partnerships
    • Assessing, strengthening and vitalizing existing collaborative partnerships
    • Staff professional development

     

    Sindelar

    Nancy W. Sindelar — Nancy W. Sindelar works with schools to improve learning and student achievement through the alignment of local curriculum and assessments to state standards and the development of high functioning teacher teams trained to use test data to inform instruction. Her work with schools has led to schools receiving state "most improved status" based on test scores.

    She is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at California State University and the former Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment at Dupage High School District 88 in suburban Chicago.  Her publications include Using Test Data for Student Achievement: Answers to No Child Left Behind and Developing an Effective Mentor Teacher Program.

    Her consulting services focus on:

    • Working with teachers and administrators to gather and use student test data to enhance learning and student achievement
    • Developing and working with teacher teams to align local curriculum and assessments to state standards.
    • Developing mentor programs for new teachers and administrators
    Teach for Learning 

    Teach for Learning, LLC — Teach for Learning, LLC has built a record for transforming and improving instructional effectiveness and student achievement at district, school and classroom levels. Consultants develop rigorous teaching and learning practices that result in improved student achievement.  With emphasis on developing leadership capacity to support and sustain professional learning communities, Teach for Learning consultants assist district and school administrators and leadership teams with developing a strategic plan that establishes a culture and environment which results in high expectations for all students.  In doing so, professional development is focused on beliefs, expectations, planning, instruction, evidence of student learning, critical thinking, and culture and environment.

    Their consulting services focus on:

    • Focused instructional leadership
    • Building professional learning communities
    • Learning-focused teaching practices
    • Research-based literacy practices across content areas

     

     James D. (Jim) Wilson

    James D. (Jim) Wilson— The "Colorado Cowboy" is a tremendous resource for rural and small school districts. A former Rural/Small School Administrator of the Year, Jim uses his 40-plus years in education to assist rural and small districts with many pressing concerns, including human relations, systemic change and financial restructuring (among others).

    His consulting services focus on:

    • Human relations programs
    • Systemic change initatives
    • Security assessment and planning
    • Interest-based bargaining
    • Fiscal restructuring

    For More Information
    To learn more about working with any of AASA's Executive Consultants, please contact MaryAnn Jobe at 703-875-0734.

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