The Office of School Partnerships

Office Affiliates (former)

Note: The LDI completed most of its programs in 2003. The archived information below lists some of the Office of School Partnerships affiliates over the years.

Ethan Cancell, Snowden International High School
Ethan is a sixth year advanced doctoral student in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy. Bob Schwartz is his advisor. Prior to attending HGSE, Ethan taught High School English for four years, and ran an SAT preparation course and tutoring service. His research focus is on teacher expectations, especially in the current context of a standards-based accountability system. Ethan taught middle school math, high school English and ESL. Most recently he has taugth the secondary school teacher preparation and Education Policy
at Dartmouth College. He is Snowden's whole-school change coach. As Snowden's LDI Consultant he assists the administrative team with its restructuring effort which addresses, its core function--teaching and learning. He has worked with administrators, teachers and students to reduce the achievement gap between white students and students of color, while raising all students performance on the MCAS and Stanford 9.

Linda Clark, Elihu Greenwood Elementary School
Linda, a fourth year doctoral student in Learning and Teaching, used a Spencer Foundation Apprenticeship Grant during the 2000-2001 academic year to continue her work on a research project collaborating with teachers using protocols to support Looking at Student Work as part of a classroom-based inquiry process.Prior to returning to graduate school, she was a teacher and building administrator in the Ithaca City School District (NY) for ten years and a teacher in elementary and middle schools in Evanston, IL, for six years.
She holds masters degrees from National-Louis University (Writing,1991) and Harvard Graduate School of Education (Learning and Teaching, 1999).

Linda's interests include the development and implementation of collaborative processes in the areas of school governance and assessment;literacy development, with a concentration on writing; and science, with an emphasis on designing "discovery" style learning environments and identifying community resources to enhance the elementary science curriculum.

Laural Dyson, Holmes Elementary School
Laural is an advanced doctoral student in the Urban Superintendents Program of the Administration, Planning and Social Policy Department. She completed her Ed.M. degree at HUGSE after many years as an administrator in the Newark, N.J. Public Schools. She
completed her internship for Urban Superintendents with the Plainfield Public Schools. Laural has a background in educational psychology and special education and received an M.A. in Educational Psychology from Montclair State University. She also served as Director of Children's Ministries and The Learning Center for Christ Church in Montclair, N.J.

Adriana Katzew, Brighton High School
Adriana is a third year doctoral student in Learning and Teaching. Her areas of research consist of looking at how photography, video and film are critical means for youth of color to develop a voice and a cultural identity, as they undergo the processes of empowerment and resistance. Adriana initially got interested in this topic while teaching photography to Latino children in Philadelphia's barrio. Adriana comes to HGSE with a background in: History and Literature from Harvard College, a year as a visiting photography student at The Rhode Island School of Design, and a Law degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law.

Kurt Laakso, Mary E. Curley Middle Academy
Kurt is an advanced doctoral student in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy. His research over the past few years has focused on the civic mission of schools in a "market culture." He is currently examing the importance of informal interactions between adolescents and adults within public high schools, particularly in light of the recent rash of violence in suburban settings. In addition to serving as a consultant with the Boston-Harvard Leadership Development Initiative, Kurt has been a supervisor with HGSE's Teacher-Education Program, a TF with the Field Experience Program, and a TF for Professor Pedro Noguera's course on urban education. Before
joining HGSE's doctoral program, he taught English for four years at Newburyport High School. In August 2001, he will take over as Division Head of the English and fine arts programs at Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.

Stephen Mancini, Shaw Elementary School
Stephen Mancini is a first year doctoral student in the Harvard Graduate School of Education's Administration, Planning and Social Policy (APSP) program. Steve is a Massachusetts certified social studies teacher, having received a masters in Teaching and Curriculum from Harvard in 1993. Following graduation from Harvard, Steve taught social studies at Concord Carlisle High School in Concord, Massachusetts from 1993 to 1998. In 1999, Steve joined the U.S. Department of Education as special assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.

While an undergraduate at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, Steve founded an organization called Students for Educational Equality (SEE). Through SEE, Steve established a tutoring program for inner-city elementary school students in the Holyoke Public Schools. Following graduation from Amherst College with honors in 1990, Steve taught English-as-a-Second-Language at a secondary school in Gliwice, Poland through the World Teach program.

Ethan Mintz, Curriculum Consultant
Ethan is an advanced doctoral student in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. A former actor and educator in the New York City public schools, his current research focuses on how drama is used as a method of action-based education in schools and communities. He has also conducted quantitative research on racial diversity in schools and its effects on student achievement, and qualitative research on leadership and school culture in popular urban public schools. Ethan has been co-chair of the editorial board of the Harvard Educational Review, and is co-editor of The Complex World of Teaching: Perspectives from Theory and Practice published by the Harvard Educational Review. Currently, Ethan is a Curriculum Consultant with the Boston-Harvard Leadership Development Initiative of HGSE's Office of School Partnerships.

Elana Peled, Boston Latin Academy
Elana Peled is completing her third year of doctoral studies in the Language and Literacy specialization of the Human Development and Psychology program at Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her research interest is the acquisition of written academic discourse in college students deemed underprepared for academic work. A native of California, Elana holds a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a master's degree in English Composition from San Francisco StateUniversity, and a certificate in teaching post-secondary reading, also from SFSU. She has taught college-level writing and reading to both undergraduate and graduate students.

In addition to her work with the LDI, Elana is also a writing coach in the Boston Public Schools. An owner of two cats, Elana's interests also include Insight Meditation, Iyengar Yoga, swimming, hiking, gardening, and of course, reading.

Anthony Pope, Quincy Elementary School
Anthony is a doctoral student in APSP, Urban Superintendency Program. He completed his Ed.M. degree at HUGSE in APSP and holds an Ed.M. in Educational Administration from Houston Baptist University. Anthony's undergraduate focus was in Psychology and History. He completed his Superintendent's internship in Rochester, N.Y. He has also served as a middle and high school teacher and as an Assistant Principal at both the elementary and high school levels in Texas. Anthony served as a member of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) management team. He has also coached football and basketball.

Carol Sills Strickland, Dearborn Middle School
Carol has completed four years as the LDI Consultant for the Dearborn School. A fifth-year doctoral student in Learning and Teaching at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Carol is interested in the relational aspects of educational environments that engage adolescents in learning. She draws on her experiences as Project Director of a family-school-community partnership initiative, educational research analyst, and Assessment Consultant for a summer enrichment program, as well as her active involvement in schools as a parent, to inform and enrich her current work.

George Smith, Mendell Elementary School
George is a third year doctoral student in APSP, Elementary and Secondary Education. He is interested in the interrelationship of social psychology and education. His current research interests include how social status affects group dynamics with a particular focus on skewed group interaction. He has served as a Teaching Fellow for Leadership in organizations and Adolescent Development in Schools. George has also worked as a Middle School Specialist for the Cambridge Public Schools, and is currently serving as a second year board member of the Harvard Educational Review.

John Yun, Curriculum Consultant
John is an advanced doctoral candidate in Education Policy Research at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. He graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor's degree in Physics and from Ohio University with a Master's degree in Physics Education. His current research focuses on issues of economic equity in education, specifically, patterns of school segregation
during the past 10 years, the educational differences between private and public schools, and the effect of school funding on educational outcomes. He has conducted research related to alternative funding plans, charter schools, and site-based management. Mr. Yun is a former San Antonio high school science teacher and solicitations editor at the Harvard Educational Review. He is the author of several articles and book reviews, as well as co-editor of the book, The Complex World of Teaching: Perspectives from Theory and Practice
published by the Harvard Educational Review. He is currently working with HGSE's Office of School Partnerships as a Curriculum/Testing Consultant for the Boston Public Schools.