ECLC Summer Institute: Cultivating Belonging & Resilience in Uncertain Times

Allyson is an Associate at Essential Partners. A Massachusetts certified teacher and administrator with over 18 years of experience, she is working towards her PhD in Global Governance and Human Security at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She holds a M.S. in Global and International Education (Drexel University) and a M.Ed. in Science Curriculum and Instruction (University of Massachusetts Lowell).

Anne Brady, Ph.D, is a High School Special Education Liaison at Rockport High School. She has been active in the ECLC in many ways since Rockport’s membership in Cohort 1. Anne is passionate about making learning accessible to all students through Universal Design for Learning, other Learner-Centered Practices, and a focus on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. Anne came to teaching as a second career after a long and fruitful first one in the human services evaluation arena. She lives in Hamilton, MA with her two sons and her pets.

Julie Kenny Calzini, Ed. D, has been an equity driven educator for thirty years. Prior to her work in higher education, Dr. Kenny Calzini was a secondary school teacher and administrator. Her doctoral research focused on critical whiteness, specifically what it means to be a white preservice teacher. The results of her research have been applied to curricular and programmatic change to ensure teacher candidates understand how their identities impact marginalized groups.

Gary is the co-author (with Carisa Corrow) of 126 Falsehoods We Believe About Education (2021).

He has been working in education since 2000, first as a teacher, then as a curriculum director, then as a Dept. of Ed. researcher, and for the past ten years as an advocate and supporter of equity based practices such as competency-based learning, performance assessment, adaptive leadership, deeper learning, collaborative cultures, and ethical assessment. He is deeply fascinated by questions like: What should kids learn? How do we decide what kids should learn? How do we learn what they learned? How can learning what they learned help them learn more? Also: Systems!

Christina Cipriano, Ph.D. (she/her), is an assistant professor at the Yale Child Study Center and Director of Research at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence (YCEI) in the Yale School of Medicine. 

Dr. Cipriano’s research focuses on the systematic examination of social and emotional learning (SEL) in the promotion of pathways to optimal developmental outcomes for marginalized student and teacher populations. Dr. Cipriano is recognized as a national expert in SEL and is the PI and Director of numerous major grants supporting the development and validation of SEL assessments, classroom observation practices, and SEL evaluation and efficacy trials. Dr. Cipriano received her Ph.D. in Applied Developmental and Educational Psychology from Boston College, her Ed.M. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and undergraduate degree from Hofstra University. Chris is a Jack Kent Cooke Scholar and the mother of four beautiful children who inspire her each day to take the moon and make it shine for everyone. You can follow her @drchriscip  

I truly believe in the power of public education; I was a public school teacher for fourteen years in NH. I also believe public school can be a lot better.  I have written self-paced courses for educators, contributed as a thought partner for competency-based education publications and have presented at local and national conferences. In all of this work, I’ve gone on quite the learning journey myself discovering the ways unjust systems affect students and the communities in which they live.

Bob Cunningham, Ed.M., is the Chief Executive Officer, International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.

He also serves as senior advisor on learning and attention issues for Understood. Previously, he was head of school at the Robert Louis Stevenson School, head of school for the Gateway Schools in New York City, and a member of the leadership team at the Purnell School. He has also advised for the venture philanthropy firm New Profit. 

Kelly has been a special educator for over ten years, in Beverly and North Reading. She has her license in Moderate Special Needs and Elementary Education, as well as a CAGS in Special Education. She believes in the importance of getting to know students at an individual level, as this is the foundation for the classroom.

Kelly hopes to one day teach the field to Undergraduate Students at a local university.

Jane Feinberg is the founder and principal of Full Frame Communications LLC, a consulting practice in Greater Boston that supports mission-driven organizations in developing their communications, engagement, and leadership capacities as a foundation for driving meaningful and sustained social change.

As founder and director of the Essex County Learning Community, Jane brings many years of experience working with public school districts. 

Heidi Guarino is an equity-driven education leader, policymaker and senior-level, independent strategy consultant with more than 25 years of executive experience.

Craig Harris, Ed.S. work as a school psychologist has focused on the creation and implementation of programs to support the most vulnerable students in schools. He helped establish an emotional disability support classroom and a bridge program for students returning after psychiatric hospitalization. Craig has also worked within diverse and different settings, including two years of Americorp service in schools in the Greater Philadelphia area and two years of training in Lawrence Public Schools. He currently serves as Director of Social Emotional Learning in Swampscott Public Schools.

Inspired by my own two-steps-forward, one-step-back journey away from racial innocence, I educate other white people confused and frustrated by racism by transforming anxiety and inaction into empowerment and action.

I’m a white woman, raised in Winchester, Massachusetts during the socially turbulent 1960s and ‘70s. After a blissfully sheltered, upper-middle-class suburban childhood, I found myself simultaneously intrigued and horrified by the racial divide I observed in Boston. From 1984 to 2009 my work in urban neighborhoods and schools left me feeling helpless. Why did people live so differently along racial lines? Why were student outcomes so divergent? Why did I get so jumpy when talking to a person of color? Where did the fear of saying something stupid or offensive come from, and why couldn’t I make it go away? The more I tried to understand racial dynamics, the more confused I became. I knew there was an elephant in the room, I just didn’t know it was me!

Val Kappa is a stand-up comic, visual artist and MBA candidate. She has been a Substitute Teacher at the Saugus Middle-High School for the last year and half and is currently teaching comedy writing to teenagers at Emerson College's Pre-College Program for the 4th year in a row.

Diana Lebeaux is Senior Director of Programs at The Teacher Collaborative, helping teachers across Massachusetts to collaborate, innovate, and problem-solve together. Diana brings over a decade of experience with program development and management and is a trained facilitator.  Previously, Diana was a middle school classroom teacher; directed student support and enrichment programs, and directed a team of coaches supporting equitable and inclusive school and district redesign processes.  She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Bates College in Maine and a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from New York University. Diana is the mom of two boys and lives with her family in the Merrimack Valley area of Massachusetts.

Hong Ly, Ed.D., is a nationally certified school psychologist whose work has been devoted to supporting racially, culturally, socioeconomically, and linguistically diverse urban public school communities. Dr. Ly’s doctoral research centered on the racial discipline gap and how mid-career teachers in urban school districts understand and position themselves within racialized discipline practices. Additionally, she has experience with teaching masters level courses around SEL, training and coaching on implementing trauma-sensitive practices and SEL initiatives, and supervising and mentoring school psychologists.

Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning, Andover Public Schools

John Sarrouf is Co-Executive Director and Director of Program Development at Essential Partners.

He teaches people how to facilitate dialogue across differences, mediate conflict, and manage interpersonal as well as intergroup challenges in their lives, communities, and workplaces.

Gabrielle Rappolt-Schlichtmann, EdD, is Executive Director and Chief Scientist at EdTogether, and an adjunct lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she teaches the course “Emotion in Learning.”

Emily Soto is the Program Manager at The Teacher Collaborative, helping develop and facilitate professional learning, innovation, and leadership programs for teachers in Massachusetts. Previously, Emily was an ESL teacher in Boston, with experience working in both the charter school sector and in Boston Public Schools. In addition to her role as an educator, she has experience in facilitating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion professional development to school staff and faculty.

Bob Stains has been a Senior Associate at Essential Partners for over 25 years.

He has worked across the US and in ten other countries helping people divided by identity, religious and political differences to become more human to each other through the transformative power of dialogue. Bob is also a skilled trainer, consultant, coach and mentor who has equipped over 30,000 practitioners around the world with advanced skills for conflict transformation. He founded Bob Stains and Associates, Conflict Transformation and directs the Transforming Dialogue training, coaching and mentoring program.

Aubry Threlkeld, Ed.D., is a critical psychologist who specializes in disability studies, education, sexuality, and technology. He has lectured at Pace University, Tufts University, and Harvard University. He teaches online, in-person, and hybrid classes.

Laura Tota, Senior Program Manager, is the newest addition to the ECLC Team. Before joining ECLC, Laura was, for many years, a Senior Design Associate at the Center for Collaborative Education—where she was also a key ECLC collaborator.

Laura’s new role at ECLC will focus on coaching and programmatic offerings--and as many in the community will attest, her presence is both grounding and energizing. Laura is an education consultant who partners with schools that are seeking to increase educational equity. She is passionate about curating personalized, professional learning experiences driven by educators’ own articulation of their vision for schools and learning.

Dr. Emily J. Wilson is a public health practitioner, trainer, researcher, and certified health education specialist (CHES) with over ten years of experience working at the intersection of trauma, resilience, health, and learning.

As ECLC Project Manager, her portfolio includes professional development (PD) planning and design, communications, operations/logistics, development, and strategic planning; she helps to lead the Executive Planning and the Project Management Teams. Dr. Wilson completed her Ph.D.  in Health Professions Education at Simmons University, where she was a Hazel Dick Leonard Interdisciplinary Research Fellow on Gender and conducted her dissertation on trauma-informed teaching in Massachusetts. In recognition of this research, Dr. Wilson received a grant from the Northern New England Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (NNETESOL) to develop a trauma-informed ESOL teacher PD curriculum.