Overview | Schools | AED PSO Team
AED PSO
The AED PSO Team
The AED PSO team, led by the PSO director, is staffed by New York City educators with deep and varied experience in middle-grades and high school reform, youth development, postsecondary access and success, evaluation and accountability, adolescent health, and educational equity. Staff and consultants from AED's New York City team are organizing the AED PSO, and they are supported by a range of other AED associates. Below is a brief snapshot of the team.
AED PSO Leadership
AED's Middle Start program team has transformed many middle-grades schools, particularly those located in high-poverty areas, into high-performing environments that are academically challenging, responsive to the unique characteristics of young adolescents, and able to demonstrate social equity. They now bring their experience to the AED PSO in New York City.
Carmen Jimenez, AED PSO Director
As PSO Director, Carmen Jimenez will provide the vision, management, and leadership of the AED PSO team. An experienced leadership trainer, Carmen was formerly the Principal Director of the Professional Development Leadership Center (PDLC) in Region One of the New York City Department of Education. The PDLC was designed to offer institutes and workshops for practicing principals in small, differentiated learning groups led by experts, providing support in particular to first year principals.
Sandy Weinbaum and Patrick Montesano, Vice-Presidents and Co-Directors
The AED vice presidents and directors of the AED New York City office will support the AED PSO program director and the entire team and help integrate the range of AED resources into PSO support services. Mr. Montesano is the director of Middle Start, where he oversees AED initiatives that promote the learning and healthy development of young adolescents and improve the schools and other organizations that serve them. Dr. Weinbaum directs a range of AED programs and research related to educational leadership and reform; gender equity; school-community partnerships; improving student learning; and postsecondary access and success.
Calvin Hastings, Senior Program Officer
Mr. Hastings is currently an AED senior program officer with extensive experience in middle-grades education and school support. As part of the management team for AED Middle Start programs, he is responsible for outreach, dissemination, program development, and program customization. For schools in the AED PSO network, Hastings leads workshops and related services in the areas of young adolescent development and its implications for teaching and learning. In addition, Mr. Hastings will be responsible for disseminating information about proven middle-grades practices.
Maud Abeel, Program Officer
As a program officer for AED, Ms. Abeel supports the development and expansion of Middle Start to new areas and to new partner schools. Her prior work at New Visions for Public Schools and Carnegie Corporation of New York gave her the opportunity to work with a variety of school-wide improvement models. Maud is a contributing author, researcher, and editor to Turning Points 2000: Educating Adolescents in the 21st Century, a follow-up to Carnegie's landmark Turning Points report. As a part of the AED PSO, she will help in the planning and implementation of programs in all network schools.
Susan Crossley, Business Director
As the director of business and administration at AED, Ms. Crossley will oversee all contractual and business aspects of the AED PSO.
AED PSO School Support Coaches
The AED PSO has a team of experienced AED staff and consultants serving as the lead coaches in the schools. These school-based coaches assist school leaders, leadership teams, and the school community in improving teaching and learning. The AED PSO coaches help schools reorganize to accelerate student achievement and facilitate all professional development. They will provide schools in the AED PSO network with assistance addressing accountability requirements, strengthening school leadership and management, increasing teacher leadership, and recruiting and sustaining new teachers. Below is a sampling of our current New York City coaches. They will be joined by a focused AED PSO coaching team that will include former New York City principals, administrators, teachers and other staff.
Barbara Ghyll
Ms. Ghyll has dedicated her 40-year career to working with and in schools in Chicago and New York City as a teacher, reading specialist, principal, staff and curriculum developer, coach, consultant, and change agent. Additionally, Barbara taught and developed courses at New York University. Committed to leveling the playing field for disadvantaged youth and improving student achievement, she provides leadership development to new and veteran principals and teacher leaders. As lead coach, Barbara will have a new opportunity to share her expertise and enthusiasm.
Jon Moscow
Mr. Moscow is an expert in school design, NYC accountability requirements, school staffing, and contract issues. He will be managing the accountability needs of the AED PSO schools.
Stefan Zucker
Mr. Zucker spent 34 years as a New York City educator and administrator. After serving as founding principal of Mott Haven Village School, a middle grades school in the Bronx, Stefan helped design a small high school modeled on the successes of his school. After retiring from the Department of Education in 2002, Zucker began to share what he had learned as a consultant for the After School Corporation (TASC), the CUNY Foundation Center, and New Visions for Public Schools. As lead coach for AED PSO schools and schools working with AED's Middle Start program, Stefan will lead his experience to the groups he's working with.
Maritza Meyers
Dr. Meyers is a nationally recognized as an authority and expert practitioner and developer of bilingual education in America. A pioneer in the field, she has directed bilingual, E.S.L., dual language, and Title I (Reading and Math) Programs for the past 24 years. Maritza's professional career spans thirty years and includes teaching, advising and supervising at elementary, high school and university levels; as well as ample experience as educational consultant, curriculum developer, and school administrator. Maritza is currently managing the needs of the English language learners in the AED PSO.
AED PSO Research and Evaluation
With a strong focus on New York City accountability measures, the AED PSO will provide guidance and support to meet the research and evaluation needs of partner schools. Services include: analysis of the results of fall progress reports in order to address areas in need of improvement; assistance in developing or refining periodic assessments, and training to use the results in conjunction with other key data to meaningfully inform teaching and learning; and ongoing data analysis to support preparation for and superior performance in the SQR (including an annual simulated SQR) and annual progress report.
Adria Gallup-Black, Senior Program Officer
Dr. Gallup-Black is a senior program officer for research, evaluation, and accountability programs at AED. For the PSO, she will manage the collection of school and student performance data, administration of surveys, and the development of school data notebooks. Dr. Gallup-Black will also work with the director to strengthen the work of the coaches as they guide schools in reviewing data in order to improve instruction and accelerate student learning and achievement. She will also provide schools with protocols for conducting their own ongoing analysis of student performance data.
Lea Williams Rose, Program Officer
An AED program officer, Dr. Williams-Rose is an education sociologist with extensive experience in the evaluation of school and community based programs. As a member of the research team, she designs and manages evaluations and provides evaluation and technical assistance. Williams-Rose authored two reports, School-to-Work for the College Bound and School-to-Work, College and Career, which were published by the National Center for Research in Vocational Education and collaborated on, Packaging of Undergraduate Student Financial Aid: 1989-90 and the PACE Model Tech Prep Education Project published by the U.S. Department of Education and the Academy of Educational Development respectively. Lea will provide her evaluation and youth development services to the AED PSO.
Jessica Knevals, Research Assistant
As a Research Assistant, Ms. Knevals supports all research, evaluation, outreach, marketing, and program development for the Middle Start project. Jessica has experience with statistical software programs including SPSS, by creating databases, conducting data analysis, entering data, and creating graphs. She will assist the data collection, analysis, and action research activities for all schools in the AED PSO.
AED PSO School Support Services
Founded in 1961, AED is a nonprofit organization committed to solving critical social problems and building the capacity of individuals, communities, and institutions to become more self-sufficient. AED works in all the major areas of human development, with a focus on improving education, health, and economic opportunities for the least advantaged in the United States and developing countries throughout the world. In addition to the Middle Start management team mentioned above, the AED PSO will have access to a variety of AED's national resource centers, including, but not limited to the following partners.
Merle Froschl and Barbara Sprung, Co-Directors of the Education Equity Center (EEC) at AED
Merle and Barbara together bring a total of over 60 years of experience in education. They offer expertise in gender, diversity, and other real-world issues such as bullying. As a partner in the AED PSO, EEC will continue to create practical hands-on materials and programs for after-school settings; offer workshops and training institutes for educators and parents; design and implement research projects that foster a better understanding of the need for equal opportunity; and create resources for women and girls with disabilities.
Kenneth Holdsman, Director of the AED Youth Engagement Team
Mr. Holdsman oversees programs and partnerships to support service-learning and civic action. He and members of his team will work closely with AED PSO staff and partner schools interested in creating or improving service-learning programs for young adolescent students.
Linda Simkin, Director of Adolescent Health Programs
Ms. Simkin is a senior program officer at AED with a focus on adolescent and community health, emergency contraception, HIV/AIDS/STD and pregnancy prevention for adolescents. She also brings an expertise in school-to-work programs. Ms. Simkin will support the AED PSO in these areas, particularly in the connection between health and learning.
