Dr. Mark Blitz has been researching effective school leadership for nine years at the University of Wisconsin where he received his doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis. As part of his work, he has developed school improvement tools and leadership evaluation systems. Mark taught in New York City for 8 years before pursuing his doctorate.

Dr. Betsy Schroeder has worked in public education for the past 17 years, serving as an elementary administrator for the past 12 years. Prior to becoming a principal, Betsy served as a classroom teacher for five years and was also president of the local teachers’ association. She received a Doctorate of Educational Leadership from Edgewood College in 2010 where her dissertation work focused on elementary remedial summer school programs in Wisconsin. Currently, Betsy is an administrator of a Title I Focus School where she works with an instructional leadership team, school improvement plan action groups, and an implementation team to develop and analyze school-wide systems to address achievement gaps and continually improve student achievement and community connections.

Mary Jo Ziegler has worked in diverse educational settings for 30 years. The first 15 years of her career were spent teaching in classrooms of Title I schools. In 2003, She earned a M.S. in Reading and moved into an instructional coaching role in a diverse, high poverty middle school. After earning a second Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin, Mary Jo worked as a district literacy resource teacher, a literacy coordinator, and a PK-12 director of instruction in diverse rural and urban school districts. Recently, she worked at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction as a Title I Consultant supporting Focus Schools as they implemented a continuous improvement process. She is now the Title I Coordinator and Literacy Consultant for CESA 2, a regional education center for the southern part of Wisconsin.