Amy Schulting is the Dyslexia Specialist at the Minnesota Department of Education where she provides guidance and technical assistance to school districts in support of students with dyslexia or characteristics of dyslexia.
President of Decoding Dyslexia Minnesota, a grassroots national advocacy movement and educational advocate for students with learning disabilities. Additionally, Rachel serves as a Microsoft Dyslexia & LD Community Specialist, building awareness and evangelizing use of assistive technology for students with learning differences in order to provide equitable access to class curriculum and empower them to reach their full educational potential.
Bio coming soon.
Bio coming soon.
Avisia Whiteman is a research analyst in Statewide Testing and Assessment at the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). Her responsibilities have included the design, launch, revision, and stabilization of data systems in early childhood related to children, families, staff and early education locations for Head Start, public preschool, and Early Childhood Family Education. She also consults on opportunities to build on data projects for early Childhood Special Education. She has been on the staff at the MDE for more than ten years, initially focusing on the Kindergarten Entry Assessment study. Avisia holds a Master’s degree from the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and is a licensed parent education and early childhood education teacher.
Bart Zwiers is a Pearson CAP Specialist for Minnesota representing WriteToLearn. Bart has worked with educators for over 23 years in the areas assessment and curriculum. Bart lives in the Twin Cities area and enjoy hiking, fishing, sports, and all of the seasons in Minnesota.
Garth Larson, Ed.D is the part-time Director of Learning for the Winneconne Community School District in Northeast Wisconsin and serves as President of FIRST Educational Resources in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Garth previously sat on the Board of Directors for ASCD Wisconsin, he serves on the K-12 Advisory Council for Education for the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and also serves as an adjunct faculty member for educational courses offered through Dominican University of California and the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh.
Garth has previously worked as an elementary principal in two separate Northeast Wisconsin School Districts and started his career in education as a high school speech and English teacher. In 2011, Garth formed Wisconsin Educational Resources (now FIRST) with a focus of improving student achievement across the United States. Since 2011, over 1300 school districts throughout the country have become partnership districts with his company. Garth currently consults to school districts around the country and provides customized professional development around a variety of topics, mainly Professional Learning Communities, Response to Intervention/Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, Learning-Centered Assessment and Grading Practices, School Improvement and Culture. Garth is also the author of Collaborative Systems of Support: Learning for ALL with co-authors Tom Hierck and Chris Weber, Target-Based Grading in Collaborative Teams: 13 Steps to Moving Beyond Standards with co-author Tom Hierck, and soon to be released, Grading for Impact: Raising Student Achievement through a Target-Based Assessment and Learning System with co-author Tom Hierck.
Jennifer Dugan is Director of the Statewide Testing Division at the Minnesota Department of Education. Ms. Dugan has served as the Supervisor of Test Development and Mathematics Assessment Specialist both within the Division of Statewide Testing, middle school teacher in Mathematics, and also worked as a Mathematics Assessment Specialist.
Jon Vaupel has worked to improve outcome and opportunities for children while working for the Children’s Defense Fund, Senator Biden, the US Department of Education, DC Public Schools, and Baltimore City Public Schools (as a kindergarten teacher). Currently, Jon manages the Kindergarten Entry Profile (KEP) Initiative, a standards-based assessment system that honors local control via a menu of high quality tools that can be used to produce a profile of entering kindergartners and support coherence in Pre-k to 3rd grade teaching and learning.
Joe Curiel is a Results Measurement Specialist at the Minnesota Department of Education. With a Master's in Sociology with an emphasis in evaluation, measurement, statistics, and qualitative research, he has been working in those specialty areas for 10+ years and in building the capacity of others to understand and sustain the work. His current role includes capacity building for educators and stakeholders surrounding data analysis, interpretation, and practical usage.
Kat Edwards currently works at the Minnesota Department of Education on the Data Analytics team. She holds a Ph.D. in Quantitative Methods in Education from the University of Minnesota. Her current work projects include: accountability calculations, and reporting; English learner data and reporting; and early education data collection, assessments, and reporting.
Kirsten Rewey is the Quantitative Analyst in the Special Education Division at MDE. She is responsible for retrieving, analyzing, and reporting special education-related data for both internal planning and external reporting. Kirsten has been leading informational Excel sessions for MDE staff for the past two years. Her background is in experimental research methods and evaluation.
Michelle Niska is an English Learner Education Specialist with the Minnesota Department of Education. At the department, she works to implement the Learning English for Academic Proficiency and Success (LEAPS) Act. She has been a teacher and coordinator for several English learner programs in large and small public school districts in Minnesota over the past twenty years.
Penny Houtz is the Education Supervisor for Math and ELA in the Statewide Testing Division. She has experience as a test development specialist in the private sector and taught junior high school ELA for several years. Ms. Houtz has an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Literacy from Lesley University and a K–12 Principal and Director Certificate in Educational Leadership from the University of Wyoming.
Victoria Weinberg has been with the Minnesota Department of Education since August of 2007 as an education specialist working on guidance for implementing MTSS and identifying Specific learning Disabilities at the state level. She has been a Special Education teacher for 18 years as lead in a residential treatment center, co-taught in regular classrooms, instructed pre-service teachers, and directed prevention intervention programs for a community based organization. She has her PhD in Learning and Cognition from the University of Minnesota.
Gayra Ostgaard is a Results Measurement Specialist at the Minnesota Department of Education. Part of her work focuses on the MDE Data Center and the MN Report Card. Her interests include rural education, evaluation, and data use and visualization.
Tami Bennett is an Education Consultant for NJPA, the Minnesota Service Cooperative in Region 5, and independently consults with schools on prioritizing and aligning standards in the process of setting up a guaranteed and viable curriculum. After more than twenty years of teaching Math and Science, she followed her passion to support teachers in their professional learning. Tami has earned a MEd in Curriculum and Instruction and currently completing her EdD in Educational Leadership with a focus on Adult Learning.
Yu-Feng Chang is a psychometrician in the Statewide Testing Division at the Minnesota Department of Education. Her responsibilities include working with the testing and quality assurance vendor and psychometrics activities for the MCA-III and MTAS-III. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota in Educational Psychology-QME program.
Michael Diedrich joined the Minnesota Department of Education in late 2015, shortly before the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) became law. He has since been closely involved in the development of Minnesota’s new accountability system.
Angela Hochstetter is a Math Assessment Specialist in the Statewide Testing Division. She has experience as a test development specialist in the private sector and taught high school math for several years. Ms. Hochstetter is a licensed math and Spanish teacher in Minnesota and is working on her M.A. in Quantitative Measures in Education at UMN.
Lindsey Hoy is the Director of School Support for ANet partner schools in Minnesota. Prior to joining ANet, Lindsey was the founding principal of ANet partner school KIPP DC Spring Academy, where she served for five years. She began her teaching career in Chicago, teaching first grade at A.O. Sexton Elementary School. Lindsey majored in Education at Northwestern University and earned a Master's degree from National-Louis University. She is thrilled to be working with schools in the Twin Cities as a Minnesota native and loyal Twins fan!
Anita Larson coordinates Minnesota's Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System (ECLDS) in the Statewide Testing and Assessment Division at the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). She has been with MDE since 2012 when the state received a Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge grant. She is responsible for leading the construction and coordination of the ECLDS. Anita has more than 20 years' experience providing leadership in human services and economic assistance programming and has advanced skills in research, program planning, and evaluation. She teaches part-time for Hamline University in St. Paul. She holds a Doctorate in Public Administration.
Ursula Lentz, the world language and an English learner specialist at the Minnesota Department of Education, heads the billingual and multillingual seal program and development of assessments of languages without proficiency-based assessments. She provides support for bilingual and immersion schools and has extensive experience in proficiency-based assessment and standards implementation.
John Olson is the Science Content Specialist at the Minnesota Department of Education and will be leading the science standards review. He previously taught physics, physical science and earth science in St. Paul and Litchfield. In addition he taught teacher preparation classes at Metropolitan State University and with the Peace Corps in Liberia.
Erin Osborn is a research analyst at Century College in the Office of Institutional Effectiveness. She is also a member of the SLEDS Network, serving the metro area. She loves working with data and is excited about empowering others to take advantage of the great data that SLEDS offers.
Ann Page is a Math Assessment Specialist in the Statewide Testing Division. She has experience as a test development specialist in the private sector and taught high school math for several years. Ms. Page has a M.A. in Teaching from the University of St. Thomas and is a licensed math teacher in Minnesota.
Megan Peterson is the Technology Integration Coordinator at Lakes Country Service Cooperative in Fergus Falls, MN. She has a love for educational technology and helping others to leverage this powerful tool. She is also the regional contact for the SLEDS Network in the Northwest Region of MN.
Holly Pope (Brunson) is the Outreach and Training Specialist for the Division of Statewide Testing. Holly facilitates conversations with educators around available data and how to interpret and use data and reports in a meaningful way. Holly’s also hosting focus groups statewide to gather feedback on the new teacher website: Testing 1, 2, 3.
Will Remmert, is an elementary principal, consultant, and doctoral student at the University of Minnesota. With over 20 years of experience, Will works with educators at all levels to implement systems and proven practices designed to enhance student and professional learning centered on school culture, professional community, and empowering leadership.
As AMAZE Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Rebecca Slaby leads anti-bias education trainings for schools and co-authored the AMAZE middle school curriculum. With a MEd from DePaul University, she taught middle school humanities for 15 years. She has presented at the Overcoming Racism, Minnesota Education Association, and NAEYC conferences.
Jim Smith started out as a social studies teacher at Centennial Middle School where he developed an innovative and collaborative classroom assessment and data support structure. Continuing to follow his passion, he now serves as a national presenter/trainer as an Assessment Associate with Solution Tree and with FIRST Educational Resources.
Cory Stai is the Reading Specialist in the Division of Academic Standards and Instructional Effectiveness at the Minnesota Department of Education where he supports the implementation of Minnesota's academic standards and literacy policies.
With an MEd from the University of Minnesota, Robin Starch was a special education teacher for over 20 years. As AMAZE Director of Education, Robin helps teachers use prevention and intervention strategies to build productive community environments. She has presented at NAEYC, NBCDI, NSSWA and has co-authored two anti-bias education curricula.
Jennifer Wazlawik is a Literacy Specialist in the Division of Academic Standards and Instructional Effectiveness at the Minnesota Department of Education where she supports the implementation of Minnesota's academic standards and literacy policies.
Dave Wheeler is the elementary principal at Thompson Elementary School in Thompson, ND. The 4 years prior to that Dave was the high school principal at Larimore High School in Larimore, North Dakota for 7 years. In 2014, Dave was named ND High School Principal of the Year.
Sharon has worked with student data at MDE for over 35 years. She is the supervisor of the Data Management team in the Division of School Finance at the Minnesota Department of Education. Her team is responsible for several data collection activities including MARSS, ADM estimates, PSEO, and transportation data. They calculate the shared time, concurrent, PSEO and online learning aids.
