Education Trust Staff

Marni comes to Ed Trust with a background in teaching and public policy. After joining Teach for America in 2006, she taught second grade for three years in Atlanta. She then earned a master’s degree in public policy at American University, with a focus in social policy. While at American, she served as a teaching assistant for the School of Public Affairs Leadership Program, which allows students to design and execute community action projects. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in American studies from Cornell University.
 

Karin Chenoweth is writer-in-residence at The Education Trust. She recently co-authored, with Ed Trust’s director of research Christina Theokas, Getting it Done: Leading Academic Success in Unexpected Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2011), a careful study of the beliefs and practices of effective leaders of high-poverty and high-minority schools. Getting It Done builds on two previous books by Chenoweth, “It’s Being Done:” Academic Success in Unexpected Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2007) and How It’s Being Done: Urgent Lessons from Unexpected Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2009).

She has spoken widely about her work, including at the Iowa Governor’s Education Summit, the Illinois Coalition of High Schools, the Learning Forward national conference, the American Federation of Teachers’ QuEST conference, and, with Christina Theokas, at Western Kentucky University, Rutgers University-Camden, and the Hume Region principals conference in Melbourne, Australia.

Before joining Ed Trust, Chenoweth wrote a weekly column on schools and education for The Washington Post. Before that she was senior writer and executive editor for Black Issues In Higher Education (now Diverse). As a freelance writer, she wrote for such publications as Education Week, American Teacher, American Educator, School Library Journal, and the Washington Post Magazine. In addition, she was an active parent volunteer throughout her children’s public schooling in Montgomery County, Md.

Daria joined The Education Trust in 2003 as a policy analyst. Since then, she has authored reports and participated in national policy conversations about accountability, high school graduation, and standards.  She also leads the organization’s work to identify high-poverty, high-minority, high-performing schools.  Previously, Daria worked as an analyst for the Texas Legislative Council. She is a graduate of Rice University and holds a master’s from the University of Wisconsin.

As director of the Ed Trust’s National Center for Transforming School Counseling, Peggy consults with state departments of education, universities, and school districts. She is the former director of the school counselor program at Indiana State University and past president of the Indiana School Counselor Association. She was a member of the writing team for the American School Counselors Association’s National Model for School Counseling Programs and one of the developers of the MetLife Foundation’s National School Counselor Training Initiative. Peggy also was cofounder of the American Student Achievement Institute. 

Both an educator and researcher, Christina is committed to integrating research, practice and policy to help improve schools and student outcomes. She is the director of research at the Education Trust, where she recently co-authored a book, with Karin Chenoweth, Getting it Done: Leading Academic Success in Unexpected Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2011). Prior to joining the Ed Trust, she worked in the research and evaluation office of the Alexandria City Public Schools in Virginia. She evaluated program efficacy and trained principals and teachers on how to understand and use available data to make instructional decisions and guide school reform efforts.

Previously, Christina worked for 10 years in schools in various capacities, including as a special education teacher, school psychologist, and supervisor of curriculum, assessment, and training. She also led the middle school at a special education school in Massachusetts. Her work focused on developing curriculum and programs to meet the social, emotional, and learning needs of diverse students. Currently, she is the chair of the school performance committee at a charter school in Washington, D.C., and sits on the board of The Arlington Partnership for Children, Youth and Families. Christina holds a doctorate in Child Development from Tufts University.

Natasha joined The Education Trust after completing a master’s in education policy and management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Before graduate school, she spent three years as a research assistant and associate analyst at Abt Associates, a research and consulting firm.  At Abt, Natasha worked on a variety of research and analysis projects, including economic analyses of environmental regulations and market studies. She holds a bachelor’s in economics and Spanish language and literature from Brandeis University.

Mary primarily manages the College Results Online portfolio, an interactive web-based tool that provides facts on college graduation rates to students, parents, school counselors, policymakers, and researchers. She analyzes patterns in access and success rates, and highlights campus and system-based efforts that have made progress towards improving graduation rates. Previously, Mary was a research assistant at Education Sector, where she studied issues related to college and career readiness, college access and completion, and competency-based higher education, and authored “Degreeless in Debt: What Happens to Borrowers Who Drop Out.” Despite holding degrees in biology and linguistics, Mary became passionate about higher education issues at the University of Virginia after working with the admissions and financial aid offices to increase students’ awareness of AccessUVA, U.Va.’s financial aid program for low-income students. Mary also co-founded and presided over an advocacy organization at U.Va. that supports socioeconomic diversity in higher education. She holds a master’s in public policy, with a higher education concentration from Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies.

Before joining The Education Trust, Joe was the regional admissions counselor in Chicago for Marquette University where he visited high schools, interviewed applicants, and helped select students. He also co-chaired the government relations committee of the Wisconsin Association for College Admission Counseling, where he advocated at the state and local levels on behalf of college funding to benefit students of color and low-income students. Joe holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in applied economics, both from Marquette University. His master’s thesis explored the relationship between education and economic growth in developing countries.

Prior to joining the Education Trust, Iris Maria served as Deputy Director for Education Policy & Outreach at the League of United Latin American Citizens, where she oversaw LULAC’s state and federal education policy work. In this capacity she worked to deepen LULAC’s understanding of state and federal school reform, and expanded the relationships between LULAC’s grassroots education advocates and state and federal policymakers. Prior to LULAC, Iris Maria worked as a Legislative Associate for the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), where she was a junior lobbyist assisting FRAC’s state and local network on food assistance programs and governmental processes at the federal level.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology, History & African Diaspora Studies from Tulane University and a Master of Arts degree in Social Policy from the University of Chicago. 

Robin brings more than 15 years of writing, editing, and production experience to The Education Trust. As the leader of our editorial and design team, she is responsible for managing a smooth and efficient production process and helping to ensure that we convey our message in a clear and compelling fashion. Most recently, she was editorial director at Education Sector, where she managed the editorial and production processes for the organization’s in-house publications. Previously, she served as associate editor of the biweekly publication Diverse Issues in Higher Education, deputy editor at Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News, and a copy-editor at several daily newspapers. Robin’s writing has focused on issues facing students of color in higher education, including lowering student loan default rates, increasing diversity in international education, and eliminating health disparities. She earned a master's and a doctorate in English from the University of Maryland, and a bachelor's from Howard University.

Sela Lewis, graphic designer at The Education Trust, has worked in such varied settings as commercial real estate, law firms, and political campaigns. Her involvement in education activism in high school and summers during college working with children at her neighborhood Boys & Girls Club have shaped Sela’s knowledge about the issues The Education Trust supports. A graduate of Howard University, she holds a bachelor of fine arts in graphic design. For Sela, graphic design is about effectively communicating ideas visually so that good ideas become great — a bit like fine cooking, which calls for quality ingredients, coupled with intuition about flavors, colors, and textures.

Clarise is an undergraduate student at Howard University studying political science with a concentration in community development. Before coming to The Education Trust, Clarise was a public policy intern at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, where she assisted work on federal legislation and policy. As the field assistant, she is helping to develop a field operations program and plays a key role in strategic outreach and advocacy work.

 
Prior to joining The Education Trust, Kate was an attorney with the education practice of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP’s Government and Regulatory Affairs Practice Group, where she specialized in regulatory and legislative issues related to higher education. Kate previously served as legislative counsel to both Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes and Rep. Artur Davis. She also served as legislative and policy adviser to former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Kate is a graduate of Georgetown University and Vanderbilt University School of Law.

As Development Assistant for the Ed Trust, Kaylé supports the development team in its efforts to build the organization’s relationships with our supporters and to foster a culture of development across the organization. Prior to joining The Education Trust team, Kaylé worked as Assistant Area Director for AIPAC’s Dallas office and then in the public affairs department of a trade association. While in Dallas, she became active in education reform at a local level by encouraging parents to vote in local school board elections as part of an organized effort. Kaylé is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Journalism and minored in French and International and Area Studies.  

Jane supports the human resources and operations functions within the organization.  She comes to the Ed Trust from McDonald’s Corporation where she was an HR coordinator primarily, but she also worked with several other departments on special projects to gain a better understanding of the organization as a whole. While at McDonald’s, Jane managed several projects, including a summer internship program that allowed her the opportunity to work and mentor college students while teaching them about the organization. Jane received her bachelor’s degree in psychology at Washington College and a dual master’s degree (MBA and master’s in human resource management) from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Judy comes to the Ed Trust with experience as an editor, writer, trainer, fundraiser, consultant, and project manager. She has worked in and written extensively about national service and youth development, has managed national technical assistance projects, and has edited fiction by writers including Louise Erdrich and Julius Lester. With her brother, the graphic novelist Paul Karasik, she is co-author of the dual-format book The Ride Together: A Brother and Sister’s Memoir of Autism in the Family (Simon & Schuster, 2003). She has lived both in the USA and abroad and is a graduate of Oberlin College.

Andrea was regional operations manager for the Washington, D.C., office of Isaacson, Miller, an executive search firm. She previously was the office manager for the law firm Brown & Gould and assistant to the MBA Admissions Department at A.B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University. Andrea is a Tulane graduate and holds a Professional in Human Resources certification.

Deborah is responsible for all aspects of accounts payable and other day-to-day accounting duties at Ed Trust. She brings with her many years of accounting experience from prior employment with a D.C.-based law firm and other associations, including more than eight years as finance coordinator for the Association of Corporate Counsel.  

Before joining Ed Trust, Loretta was the administrative assistant to Floretta Dukes McKenzie, a former superintendent of schools in the District of Columbia. She performed similar duties for the American Institutes for Research. Loretta previously worked as a payroll supervisor, data-entry specialist, and in various other administrative positions for the George Washington University.