Tim Boals, Jana Echevarria, David Holbrook, John Seidlitz and Jeff Zwiers Join Ellevation’s Instructional Advisory Board
At Ellevation, we often talk about the importance of learning, and encourage members of our team to seek input from colleagues and other educators. Seeking guidance from others, in particular those with real expertise, helps us improve our work, incorporate different perspectives, and make faster progress toward our goal: ensuring all students can reach their highest aspirations.
It is well known that Warren Buffett sought guidance from Bill Gates on philanthropy, that Stephen Colbert counts Jon Stewart as a mentor, and that presidents across eras have had advisors to guide them. We also believe in learning from the best, and as we set off to launch our newest product we sought input from advisors with deep experience in how children acquire language across content areas. We are so pleased to announce the Ellevation Instructional Advisory Board that will help guide and inform our work going forward, in particular the rollout and expansion of Ellevation Instructional Strategies.
Ellevation's Instructional Advisory Board
 |
Dr. Tim Boals is Executive Director of WIDA. He holds a Ph.D. in curriculum from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an emphasis in the education of ELLs. His background includes language education, educational policy for ELLs, and Spanish language and literature. |
 |
Dr. Jana Echevarria is Professor Emerita at California State University, Long Beach where she was selected as Outstanding Professor in 2005. A founding researcher of the SIOP Model, Dr. Echevarria's research focuses on effective instruction for English learners, including those with learning disabilities. Her publications include over 50 books, book chapters, and journal articles. |
 |
Dr. David Holbrook is the Executive Director of Federal Compliance and State Relationships for TransACT. He is a nationally recognized leader in federal programs administration and monitoring with expertise in Title I, Title III, Native American Education, and Federal Programs. Dr. Holbrook has also worked as a consultant with Title III of the US Department of Education. |
 |
John Seidlitz is the founder of Seidlitz Education and co-author of numerous publications including the 7 Steps to Developing a Language-Rich Interactive Classroom®. John has been a member of the SIOP® National faculty and guest lecturer for many regional and national language development conferences. He taught ESL, served as a secondary ESL program coordinator, and held the position of education specialist at ESC Region 20 in Texas. |
 |
Dr. Jeff Zwiers is a Senior Researcher at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and the Director of Professional Development Understanding Language/SCALE. Jeff has consulted for national and international projects that promote literacy, lesson design, and formative assessment practices. He has written articles and books on literacy, cognition, discourse, and academic language. |
In the coming months, we will continue to rely on the input of educators using Instructional Strategies to inform changes and improvements. In addition, we will rely on Jana, Jeff, and Tim, as well as additional advisors, for course corrections, advice on how best to connect the Strategies and Activities to content areas and realistic lesson implementation, suggestions for rubrics that teachers can use to quickly check for student understanding, and advice on the additional activities we will add in time for back-to-school this summer.
Join us for a live webinar on Wednesday, April 13th at 1pm EST as we introduce Instructional Strategies to educators from across the country.