Authors & Presenters

Darin L. Fahrney, PhD, is the coordinator for strategic implementation and an upper school teacher at the American International School of Zagreb, Croatia. He brings a broad range of experience and expertise to his work, having previously served as a high school principal, learning support coordinator, gifted and talented coordinator, contributing author, researcher, and consultant.

Paul C. Farmer is an experienced practitioner who started in education as a career and technical education (CTE) teacher. He has held multiple leadership roles, including department chair, teacher specialist in career and technology education, assistant principal, principal, and project director of instructional technology integration.

Paul Goldberg, EdD, is superintendent at East Prairie School District in Skokie, IL. He has led diverse, low-income schools to high levels of success.

Jessica Djabrayan Hannigan, EdD, works with US schools and districts to design and implement effective social-emotional and behavioral systems. Her expertise includes RTI, PLCs, MTSS, PBIS, restorative practices, social-emotional learning, and more.

Sascha Heckmann is the director of the American International School of Mozambique. Previously, he served as the high school principal at Shanghai American School, as well as a principal and vice-principal at several districts in California.

Karin K. Hess, EdD, the creator of the Hess Cognitive Rigor Matrices, is an internationally recognized speaker and leader in developing practical approaches for using cognitive rigor and learning progressions in assessments. Since 1998, Karin has been working in schools as an elementary and middle school principal, district curriculum director, and classroom teacher.

Sara Johnson is associate principal at Chisago Lakes High School in Lindstrom, Minnesota. She is also an adjunct professor teaching graduate classes on implementing response to intervention at St. Cloud State University.

Brandon Jones, an author and consultant, works with educators to implement the Professional Learning Communities at Work® and RTI at Work™ processes. As a practitioner, he has served as a high school teacher and assistant principal, as well as a principal at the elementary, middle, and secondary level.

John Jorgensen is a consultant and the former principal and director of learning and collaboration for Clinton Community School District, where he led the implementation of the PLC process and RTI support systems.

Dennis King, EdD, has focused on school improvement throughout his career, first as a practicing school administrator and now as an educational presenter. His 28 years in education include teaching in an alternative school, an urban high school, and two suburban school districts where he also served as a district administrator.