Experts

Meet our Experts! Connect with thought leaders, practitioners, researchers, and policy makers who are experts in their field. Click below to view their profiles, follow their activity on the site, and contact them for more information.

 

Ted Dezember

King County Housing Authority

Ted Dezember is the Senior Manager for Educational Initiatives and Youth Programs at King County Housing Authority. He is responsible for the development, implementation, and evaluation of educational policies and program initiatives to support academic and life success of children who live in KCHA’s properties or participate in KCHA’s other housing programs. In this role he leads three housing authority- school district- community cross-sector partnerships in Kent, Bellevue, and White Center, WA, to ensure complimentary learning programs and well-structured out-of-school time programs are...

Barbara Duffield

SchoolHouse Connection

Barbara Duffield is a leading expert on the early care and education of children and youth experiencing homelessness, birth through higher education.

Rebecca Friendly

Age of Learning / ABCmouse.com

Rebecca is the Manager of Communications and Corporate Affairs at Age of Learning, Inc. The company’s flagship product, ABCmouse.com Early Learning Academy, is the leading and most comprehensive digital early learning resource for children ages 2–8. Her responsibilities include overseeing Age of Learning’s Education Access Initiatives, which provide ABCmouse at no cost to teachers and community institutions such as libraries, Head Start programs, public housing authorities, and afterschool programs. With a background in marketing, communications, and public policy, Rebecca is passionate...

Patricia Julianelle

SchoolHouse Connection

Patricia Julianelle is an attorney and legal consultant for state and local governments and non-profit organizations. She has over 20 years of experience defending children’s and youth’s rights, including advocating for youth in the education, juvenile justice, child welfare, and immigration systems. Patricia is an expert on education law and policy, including the rights of children experiencing homelessness, students with disabilities and undocumented immigrants. She has worked with the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY), the National Law Center on...

Jill Spillman

Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority

Educational Initiatives Supervisor for the Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority (AMHA). Parents as Teachers Supervisors for AMHA's Early Childhood Initiative (ECI), which provides services to AMHA's families that have children ages prenatal through kindergarten. In addition to providing voluntary Parents as Teachers home visitation services, AMHA's Early Childhood Initiative offers monthly Family Outreach Events and a Maternal Depression Program.