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Our National Expert Educators
Michelle Fitzgerald, Ed.D.
Executive Director, School Advancement
Emerge and Elevate Pathways
“We have a 100% success rate across the country because we go into each school and look at the SYSTEMS that can be improved. We coach the leadership team to identify these systems and how to fix them. We also have metrics that allow us to continuously monitor the systems. When those scores go up, student achievement goes up too.”
– Michelle Fitzgerald, Ed.D.
Dr. Michelle Fitzgerald is an Instructional Empowerment expert educator and the Executive Director of School Advancement for the Emerge and Elevate Pathways. Michelle and her colleague, Dr. Lindsay Elliott, work with schools across the country, supervising our field faculty and ensuring each project’s success.
Michelle has been an educator for more than 30 years. During that time, she has served as area superintendent – principal supervisor, assistant superintendent, director of curriculum, building administrator, and middle school teacher. Michelle has worked in three states and has experience in different types and sizes of districts – from suburban Chicago school districts; to the nation’s 7th largest district in Tampa, Florida; and a district that is 100% urban. She has experience with standards-based curriculum development, best practices in instructional delivery, and assessment with a focus on data-driven instruction. Michelle built instructional leadership in principals and assistant principals capitalizing on her extensive experience in curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
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Lindsay Elliott, Ed.D.
Field Director, School Advancement
Emerge and Elevate Pathways
“We are boots on the ground with our partner schools. We provide rich, on-going professional learning experiences focused on systems such as Conditions, Core Instruction, Collaboration, and Leadership. We support school growth by providing feedback, asking questions, and building systems of accountability with school leaders and teachers as they implement new learning. We thrive on becoming members of our schools’ communities because we love our work and continue to be energized by our partners.”
– Lindsay Elliott, Ed.D.
As Field Director of School Advancement for the Emerge and Elevate Pathways, Dr. Lindsay Elliott collaborates with Dr. Michelle Fitzgerald, and our field faculty, to ensure each of our partners across the country meet their improvement goals while strengthening their instructional capacity.
Dedicated to education for the past 20 years, Lindsay has supported several Title I schools as a school leadership coach, principal, assistant principal, math specialist and teacher. She led improvement efforts in a Virginia elementary school with 86% of students living in poverty and 58% English Learners, resulting in increased standardized test scores by 13% in Reading and Mathematics and 43% in Science.
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Enhance Expert Educators
Penny Sell, M.Ed.
Executive Director, School Advancement
Enhance Pathway
“Our focus is on supporting schools who are performing at a proficiency level that might be acceptable for some students but engages schools in hitting that next step of advancement to meet the needs of EVERY single student in the building. Our partnerships help schools develop an instructional vision that shifts classroom instruction from being highly teacher-centered to empowering students through team-centered instruction. We see how hard teachers are working and we know we really can’t ask any more of our teachers. That’s where the magic happens – teachers learn to plan tasks that allow students to experience learning in teams and students develop critical thinking skills that will ensure their success in all areas of their lives.”
– Penny Sell, M.Ed.
Penny Sell, M.Ed., is the Executive Director of School Advancement for the Enhance Pathway at Instructional Empowerment, where she and her Field Director, Kimberly Harris, lead a team of school instructional leadership experts in supporting districts. Districts partner with Penny’s team for a variety of instructional leadership needs including executing a districtwide vision for effective instruction; empowering students through team-centered, high-quality instruction; evaluating and strengthening leadership teams; and building an instructional leadership pipeline.
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Kimberly Harris, M.Ed.
Field Director, School Advancement
Enhance Pathway
“I’m an educator at heart—whether with children, adults, or leaders. My focus is to eliminate gaps and minimize the effects of some people not being able to experience the opportunities they should. As a leader and as a builder, I want to ensure that I’m affording ALL people the opportunity to experience what they dream and to live the life that they desire. I’m able to do that through the field work at Instructional Empowerment, and to spread that to the districts that we serve.”
– Kimberly Harris, M.Ed.
As Field Director of School Advancement for the Enhance Pathway with Instructional Empowerment, Kim Harris, M.Ed., collaborates with Penny Sell, and our field faculty, to ensure each of our partners across the country meet their improvement goals while strengthening their instructional capacity. Scrum Master, builder of people, leadership strategist, and a Leader of Leaders, Kim has spent the last 20+ years using her voice in authentic ways to develop leaders in the essential components of leadership and strengthen their approach to the educators and the students they serve.
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Model of Instruction Experts
Deana Senn, M.S.S.E.
Executive Director, Model of Instruction
Model of Instruction
“I have a real passion for active learning in the classroom. I have worked with teachers and leaders extensively on how to increase student ownership by helping them understand their role in student learning.”
– Deana Senn, M.S.S.E.
Deana Senn, M.S.S.E., serves as the Executive Director of Model of Instruction and is a school instructional model expert educator. She leads the creation and development of IE’s model of instruction content and coaching tools. She coaches and supports internal faculty to ensure the successful implementation of our model in all of our partnership schools. She frequently collaborates with other Executive Directors to design customized implementation supports that are culturally and linguistically relevant to students to activate the integrated development and practice of student agency.
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Jody Honaker, B.S.E.
Field Director, Model of Instruction
Model of Instruction
“When students are given the opportunity to process, connect, and expand their thinking through conversations with their peers, learning has the potential of reaching heights we can only imagine.”
– Jody Honaker, B.S.E.
As Field Director of Model of Instruction with Instructional Empowerment, Jody Honaker, B.S.E., provides coaching and support to internal faculty with a heavy emphasis on the successful implementation of IE’s model of instruction in all schools served. Jody develops supportive content designed to empower teachers and strengthen core instruction for all students. She has presented at international and national conferences, as well as hosted webinars to support educators with building their craft and love for teaching and leading.
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Other Expert Educators
Marguerite “Meg” Bowen, M.Ed.
Executive Director, Customer Experience
and Growth
“My focus is ensuring that the districts and schools we partner with find so much value in our partnership that they continue to work with us even after they have achieved their initial goals. Our ultimate goal is to help our partner schools achieve model school status where all students are engaged in rigorous learning activities and really achieving their full potential.”
– Meg Bowen, M.Ed.
Meg Bowen, M. Ed., serves as the Executive Director of Customer Experience and Growth where she works diligently to ensure districts value partnering with IE so much that they continue to collaborate with us even after they achieve their initial goals. She encourages partner schools to reach and achieve model school status, where all students are engaged in rigorous learning activities and achieve their full potential.
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