Marilyn Lippiatt

Marilyn Lippiatt brings to her role as Executive Director of Professional Development a wealth of insight and experience from her many years of service to California schools. Since 1965 she has served in several capacities, beginning her teaching career in LA Unified elementary schools before becoming a teacher and principal in Conejo Valley Unified. She was the first Executive Director of the California School Leadership Academy for the Central Coast Region and providing professional development to over 800 aspiring and practicing administrators in leadership and school improvement. Most recently she held the position of Director of Instructional Management for ETS after retiring from 10 years as Superintendent of the Oak Park Unified School District.

Marilyn received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from UCLA and a Masters of Arts Degree from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, CA. She spent 14 years teaching both undergraduate and graduate level courses in administration, leadership, and school law at California Lutheran University as well as serving on educational committees and organizations that support curriculum, instruction, assessment and special education.

Passionate about school improvement, Lippiatt has long been instrumental in reform efforts at the elementary, middle and high school levels. She served as Regional Co-Chair for Elementary Reform Efforts, Regional Liaison for High School Reform Efforts, and Regional Lead for Restructuring. She has participated in the development of both publication articles and instructional material, designed for school administrators and teachers, on the topic of accountability and assessments for improving student performance. Lippiatt is also heavily involved in supporting those in administrative roles, and has been an active member of the Association of California Administrators (ACSA) for the past 17 years.

Marilyn is very active in her community serving on the Board of Trustees for the New West Symphony and the Board of the Triunfo YMCA. She is a member of the advisory panel for the Ventura County Discovery Center and the Conejo Valley Future Foundation.

Pete Watson

Pete Watson began his education career in 1974 and has spent 33 years in three different California school districts leading reform efforts through professional development and quality leadership. Most recently Pete served as a Senior National Consultant for ETS after retiring as Superintendent of the Upland Unified School District where he also was the Assistant Superintendent of Business Services and Director of Curriculum and Instruction. Pete received a Bachelor's Degree in Behavioral Sciences at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and his Master's Degree in Educational Administration from California State University, Fullerton. He holds a Life Standard Teaching and Administrative Services Credential.

In addition, Pete's career experience has allowed him to teach at both the elementary and middle school level, to serve as an Assistant Principal at the middle school level and to lead as a Principal at both the Elementary and Middle School levels. As a Principal, both of his schools were designated as California Distinguished Schools and the middle school a National Blue Ribbon School. As Superintendent of a diverse 12,000 student K-12 district all of his schools have shown sustained student performance growth for the past seven years and met all of their AYP targets. Additionally, eight of his 10 elementary schools were designated as either California Distinguished Schools or Title I High Achieving Schools under his leadership.

Pete has served on many state committees and organizations and most recently was a member of the ACSA Superintendent's Council. He has been a major contributor to the middle school movement and was an original member of the California League of Middle Schools. He had significant input in the "Caught in the Middle" document as well as being an author and contributor to "Taking Center Stage". Pete has presented at many major conferences and workshops to support the efforts of public education.

Pete is a Marine Corps Vietnam Veteran and is very active in his community as a member of the Board of Directors for Upland Chamber of Commerce and the Upland YMCA, member of the Upland Community Collaborative and advisor to Upland Community Foundation. He also holds a PTA Honorary Life Membership.

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Connie Sharp, Ed. D.

Dr. Sharp has served public education for the past 38 years as a teacher, principal, Director of Curriculum and Instruction and Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services. For the past four years she worked as a State Account Manager for ETS facilitating and implementing a standards-based education model in underperforming schools particularly those in high poverty areas and those with large numbers of English Language Learners. She currently is working with schools and districts on intense professional development around high impact teaching strategies that improve student achievement and analysis of formative assessment data that focuses decisions and supports collaborative action. Coaching of teachers in the formation and implementation of professional collaborative teams and coaching administrators in leadership skills has produced dramatic results and developed renewed attention to the goals for the school and district.

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Sharon Morgan

Ms. Morgan has spent over 30 years in district, regional, and state educational endeavors throughout California. Her work has consistently focused on developing quality instruction, teacher support, and leadership capacity through training and coaching in public education. Her earlier career in journalism continues to reflect itself through a keen interest in writing instruction. Before joining Learning Plus Associates, Sharon served as regional, district and site Instructional Lead for ETS where she was hired to develop and implement a statewide administrative training in instructional leadership. She offers experience in large and small urban, suburban and rural districts as well as a broad background in curriculum, instruction and organizational leadership.

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Judy Keeney

Judy Keeney has worked in public education for 22 years. Her experiences as a classroom teacher, curriculum designer for a NASA-funded research grant and intervention materials, and instructional coach have provided the basis and foundation for her current work in supporting program improvement and re-structured schools in California and Hawai`i. Ms. Keeney utilizes facilitated instructional conversations to support the refinement and adjustments in instructional practice necessary for schools, teachers, and students to meet/exceed achievement targets.

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Janis Jones, Ed. D.

Dr. Jones has been a K-12 education consultant for the past eight years. Her effort has been highly focused on working with urban and suburban schools in many states designated as not meeting Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Schools with which she worked have shown a significant increase in academic achievement in all subgroups to include second-language learners and disadvantaged students. She is a firm believer that all students can learn. Prior to this she served as the Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services for 6 years. Schools in this district ranged from high to low socio-economic status with a high proportion of second language learners. She supervised the district’s 23 schools and during the last year of her tenure, over 90% met AYP targets.

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Michele Douglass, Ph. D.

Dr. Douglass has been a teacher, curriculum developer and Director of Curriculum and Instructional Product Development for ETS. She designed the Math Certificate Program at the California State University, San Bernardino and authored curriculum for the Student and Teacher Excellence Program and Victor Valley Union High School District. She has worked extensively to integrate and design technology and useful tools into the curriculum to model strategies for teachers and support student learning.

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