Professional Learning Communities

Brandi Genenbacher, EdD, serves as the director of curriculum, instruction, and assessment at Orchard Farm R-V School District in Missouri, where she supports K–12 staff in implementing professional learning communities and data-driven interventions.

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.

During this 1-Day Workshop, participants will gain strategies for how to build better parent engagement and collaboration with your school community to better support all of your students. Each participant will learn about a “Parentship” and how to purposely build a guiding coalition to move this work forward in their schools. Participants will also be given several easy-to-implement strategies for their own collaborative teams and school communities along with time and tools to think through that process.

Marsha Jones, EdD, is former executive director of curriculum and instruction at Pasadena Independent School District near Houston, Texas. Her experience includes teaching grades 1–8 and serving as elementary assistant principal, elementary principal, middle school principal, and district-level administrator. Under Marsha’s leadership, Pasadena ISD became the largest Model PLC at Work® district in North America and Canada.

Richard K. Cohen is Chief Academic Officer for secondary education at Edison Township Public Schools in New Jersey. He is a former assistant superintendent and principal of Moss School (PreK and Kindergarten) in the Metuchen School District in New Jersey. He serves as faculty for Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and he is a former principal of Red Bank Primary School in New Jersey.

Deanne Kildare Opatosky has more than 20 years of experience in education. As an educational advisor, she facilitates extensive professional development initiatives for novice and experienced teachers in urban and suburban communities throughout New Jersey. Backed by data and other metrics, Deanne’s work has significantly and positively impacted student achievement for the districts she serves.

Educator Kelli Fuller serves as an instructional facilitator focusing on building teacher capacity and increasing student success through professional learning, data-driven instruction, and the implementation of PLC processes.

Kendra Bell, PhD, retired from Peoria Unified School District in Arizona in 2022 after serving as chief academic officer for the district. Throughout her career, Dr. Bell has emphasized the importance of continual improvement through professional learning communities.

Dr. Sanchioni serves as the superintendent of the Tiverton Public Schools in Tiverton, Rhode Island. He has a wide array of educational experiences including serving as the superintendent in Natick, Massachusetts (10 years) and in Millis, Massachusetts (three years). In addition, Dr. Sanchioni served as a principal for 10 years.