FLARE Team

Leadership
Development
Advisory Board
Districts

H. Gary Cook, Ph.D.

WIDA Research Director
FLARE Principal Investigator

Phone: 608-890-0471
Email: hcook@wisc.edu

Dr. H. Gary Cook works as the Research Director for the WIDA Consortium and is the FLARE Principal Investigator. His recent research interests have focused on assessment alignment as well as applying value-added modeling techniques in urban settings to address key educational questions. Read more

Paula A. White, Ph.D.

FLARE Project Manager

Phone: 608-263-4353
Email: pawhite1@wisc.edu

Dr. Paula A. White is the project manager of FLARE. She has served as researcher and evaluator on numerous projects at WCER. She also served as the Project Manager for the National Institute for Science Education (NISE). Read more

Tim Boals, Ph.D.

WIDA Executive Director
FLARE Assessment Framework Team Member

Phone: 608-263-4326
Email: tjboals@wisc.edu

As WIDA's Executive Director, Tim Boals oversees operations at WIDA and long range planning efforts. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in curriculum with an emphasis in the education of English language learners. Read more

Elizabeth Cranley, Ph.D.

WIDA Associate Director
FLARE Assessment Framework Team

Phone: 608-263-4275
Email: mecranley@wisc.edu

Elizabeth Cranley has been with the WIDA Consortium since its beginning in 2003. She coordinates with subcontractors, committees, and SEAs; plans and implements professional development; and writes and edits WIDA publications. She has experience as an ESL teacher both in the U.S. and abroad and was senior lecturer in ESL at SUNY Buffalo before joining WIDA.

Mariana Castro

WIDA Director of Professional Development
FLARE Assessment Framework Team

Phone: 608-263-3976
Email: mcastro@wisc.edu

Mariana Castro helps states build capacity through trainings, workshops, the dissemination of information, and the implementation of language standards across their curricula. She also delivers professional development and represents WIDA at state and national conferences. Read more

Margaret Malone

FLARE Benchmark Project Manager

Phone: 202-362-0700
Email: mmalone@cal.org

Melissa Paton

Professional Development Outreach Specialist

Phone: 608-890-3501
Email: mpaton@wisc.edu

Melissa Paton's fifteen years of teaching experience have been devoted to working solely with students with diverse linguistic backgrounds and to helping all teachers build their capacity for developing students' language acquisition. Her focus at WIDA is to bring the WIDA ELP Standards to life in the classroom. She also works closely with the FLARE project. Read more

Lorraine Valdez Pierce, Ph.D.

FLARE Assessment Toolbox,
Student Self-Assessment, and
Professional Development Leader

Phone: 703-993-2050
Email: lpierce@gmu.edu

Dr. Lorraine Valdez Pierce is an Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education at George Mason University. From the Center for Language & Culture, she works with veteran and novice teachers designing curriculum and assessment procedures for English language learners. Read more

Advisory Group The FLARE Advisory Board consists of experts in the areas of teaching English to students of other languages, implementing assessment systems in urban school settings, student college readiness preparation, and English language learner (ELL) formative assessment. The Board is closely involved in all aspects of FLARE project development, from initial planning to final implementation. The FLARE Advisory Board is comprised of the following members:

Alison Bailey, Ed.D., Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, University of California at Los Angeles

Larry Berger, CEO and Co-Founder of Wireless Generation

Margarita Calderón, Ph.D., Founder of Margarita Calderón & Associates

Suzanne Donovan, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Strategic Education Research Partnership (SERP)

Andrés Henríquez, Program Officer; Urban Education, National Program Carnegie Corporation of New York

Kenji Hakuta, Ph.D., Professor, Stanford University School of Education

Nonie Lesaux, Ph.D., Associate Professor in Human Development and Urban Education Advancement, Harvard University

Robert Linquanti, Director of the English Learner Evaluation and Accountability Support (ELEAS) in WestEd's Comprehensive School Assistance Program

Edynn Sato, Ph.D., Director of Research and English Language Learner (ELL) Assessment in the Assessment and Standards Development Services (ASDS) program and the Director of Special Populations for the Assessment and Accountability Comprehensive Center (AACC) at WestEd

FLARE could not be developed without the full commitment and support of participating districts and schools. Initial development and rollout of the FLARE secondary school project has occurred in three urban districts: Chicago, IL, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC, and Garden Grove, CA.

Piloting and field testing of these assessments has taken place in these urban school districts in keeping with the Carnegie Corporation of New York's priorities for assistance by building the K-16 pipeline, strengthening accountability, and strengthening human capital*, specifically as they related to ELLs' pathway to college. The project will have an integrated, secondary formative assessment system aligned with World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) and college readiness standards operationally available by 2012.

*Carnegie Corporation of New York's National Program priorities for assistance.

District Logos