Dr. Mitchell Brookins

Educational Consultant | Teacher PROs

Mitchell has taught on the Southside of Chicago, been a district leader of RtI and literacy in Chicago Public Schools and served as a school administrator in Chicago Public Schools and New Orleans. Mitchell's instructional leadership as a school administrator has yielded the following results: an average of 24% growth in Math and 16% growth in Reading over two years at ARISE Academy, 29% growth in Foundational Reading Skills at Dwight Eisenhower in one year, and in one year, moved the school letter grades from a “D” to a “C” at ReNEW Cultural Arts Academy and Dwight Eisenhower.

Mitchell’s professional engagements include the following: Professional Learning Facilitator for the National Board Professional Teaching Standards, LETRS, UnboundEd, AIM Institute, and New Schools for New Orleans; and a member of the Board of Directors for The Reading League. Finally, he is a Senior Director with Leading Educators, supporting math and literacy professional learning systems in Baltimore City Schools.

Mitchell has a B.A. in Elementary Education from Illinois Wesleyan University, a M.A. in Teacher Leadership from Roosevelt University, and a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the University of New Orleans.

Conference Sessions:
Literacy Leadership: Accelerating Your Impact as the Lead Literacy Learner

Teaching Comprehension through a Culturally Responsive Lens

Julie Brown, M.S.Ed 

District Literacy Facilitator | Windsor Central Supervisory Union, Woodstock, Vermont

Julie Brown has served in a variety of roles including Structured Literacy Teacher, Literacy Facilitator, EL Coordinator, and Special Educator for her district in Woodstock, Vermont. Julie is a licensed Special Educator, Reading Specialist, and EL Teacher. For the past eight years, she has taught middle and high school Structured Literacy and Structured Writing courses. Julie holds a master's degree in Language and Literacy from Simmons College. She is currently a doctoral student at Mount St. Joseph University studying Reading Science with research interests in prevention and adolescent literacy. Her students are her inspiration.

Conference Session:
No Time to Waste: The Science of Reading With Young Adults

Margie Christie

Instructional Coach | Memphis Teacher Residency

Margie Christie has worked as a public school classroom teacher for 11 years in Memphis neighborhoods.  Currently, she serves as an Instructional Coach and edTPA coordinator for Memphis Teacher Residency and as an Adjunct Professor at Christian Brothers University.

In her work, she advocates for Multilingual students, families, and communities with a fierce belief that all students deserve equitable access to high quality education and that literacy is the great equalizer to strengthen our communities.  She's passionate about supporting teachers in their pedagogical and content expertise.  

Conference Session:
Choose your own adventure: How can the Science of Reading support and enhance MLLs access to grade level texts?

Dr. Jessica Costa

Director of Multilingual Learner Support | Instruction Partners

Dr. Jessica Costa, Director of Multilingual Learner Support with Instruction Partners, has worked for two decades either teaching students a love of language, learning, and themselves or providing professional development for teachers and educational leaders nationally and internationally to do the same. She brings a wealth of knowledge from her experiences as a Nationally Certified teacher of English as a New Language; state, district, and school-wide leadership roles, professional learning design and delivery, data-coaching for school improvement, and doctoral research focused on socially just school leadership preparation. Her passion for multilingual learners derives from listening to her father’s stories of his experience as a multilingual immigrant starting school in the United States as a teenager. Jessica gets excited about each training, meeting, or even the smallest of opportunities to connect and partner with educators to support quality instruction within responsive and affirming learning environments for multilingual learners.

Conference Session:
Supporting Multilingual Learners during Foundational Reading Skills Instruction

Nicole De Santis

Principal | Boston Consulting Group

Nicole De Santis is a Principal based in Austin and a core member of BCG's Education, Employment, and Welfare practice. She focuses on supporting PK-12 institutions, nonprofits, and government agencies to drive impact in local communities, especially on child care and early learning topics. She has worked closely with Memphis Shelby County Schools and Memphis community leaders since Fall 2021 in their pursuit of improved early literacy outcomes for all students.

Conference Session:
Early Literacy Strategy across the Memphis Community

Katava Johnson

Program Director | Diverse Learners Cooperative

Katava Johnson has worked as a special educator and leader in Nashville and Memphis, TN for the last 10+ years. She received her M.Ed. in Special Education with a focus on low incidence populations while conducting Autism research with the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. She believes that all students deserve access to equitable and transformational education, and is committed to working with schools and communities to implement creative and effective solutions that move closer to this vision.

Conference Session:
Using UDL Strategies to Increase Student access in the Literacy Classroom

Dr. Pam Kastner

Educational Consultant | Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network

Pam Kastner, Ed.D., is an educational consultant at the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN) Harrisburg, where she serves as the State Lead Consultant for Literacy. Pam currently co-leads Pennsylvania’s Dyslexia Screening and Early Literacy Intervention Pilot Program extension and expansion for PaTTAN. In addition, she is part of a research team investigating the impact of explicit instruction in advanced phonemic awareness on student literacy outcomes. She serves on the statewide Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS) team working extensively in the area of literacy, effective instruction, formative assessment, and professional learning communities. She has served in several leadership capacities at the district level and served as a Pennsylvania Distinguished Educator for the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Pam is a certified Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS) trainer and a certified reading specialist. Pam also has the honor of serving as the President of The Reading League Pennsylvania.

Conference Sessions:
Spelling: Visible Language to Inform Instruction and Intervention

Sound-Spelling Walls: From Phonemes to Graphemes

Sara Musashe

Director of English Language Learners | Compass Community Schools

Sara Musashe has worked as a classroom teacher, instructional advisor, and adjunct professor. Currently, she serves as the Director of English Learners at Compass Community Schools. In each of these roles, Sara has been driven by the core belief that reading, writing, speaking, and listening are sources of power - not something to fear. By providing ELs with environments that foster this belief, we can help them develop into responsible, respectful, engaged world citizens, who are free to think and dream anything is possible, and will use their power to advocate for themselves as well as others.

Conference Session:
Choose your own adventure: How can the Science of Reading support and enhance MLLs access to grade level texts?

Dr. Louisa Moats

Researcher and Author

Louisa Moats, Ed.D., has been a teacher, psychologist, researcher, graduate school faculty member, and author of many influential scientific journal articles, books, and policy papers on the topics of reading, spelling, language, and teacher preparation. She served as a board member and officer of the International Dyslexia Association for many years. As such, she led the committee that developed IDA’s Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading and has written many articles for IDA’s publications.

Sherry Sousa

Superintendent | Windsor Central Supervisory Union

Sherry Sousa has dedicated her career to working with adolescents with disabilities. In her many capacities serving Windsor Central Supervisory Union, Sherry has focused on providing students with learning differences opportunities to grow and to remain in their home communities.  Under her leadership, the role of a WCSU special educator was reimagined as Learning Specialist--reducing the number of students receiving special education services from 17% to 11%.  She has co-authored three books on nonverbal learning disabilities and has presented throughout the Northeast on this topic.  For the last three years, Sherry has had the privilege of serving as WCSU’s Superintendent.  She has welcomed the opportunity to engage with an outstanding staff on behalf of her students and their communities. Sherry is committed to improving educational equity and sees literacy as a key component of that work.

Conference Session:
No Time to Waste: The Science of Reading With Young Adults

Dr. Laura Taylor

Assistant Professor of Educational Studies | Rhodes College

Dr. Laura Taylor is an Assistant Professor of Educational Studies at Rhodes College, where she researches and teaches about literacy teaching in urban schools. Her work explores how we can build literacy classrooms in urban schools that are both humanizing and intellectually challenging spaces for students, as well as examining the political, economic, cultural, and historical reasons why schools don’t always already feel that way for students. Prior to joining the faculty at Rhodes, Laura was an elementary ESL teacher in Houston Independent School District.

Conference Session:
Beyond Assignments: Teaching Writing Strategies

Sonya Thomas

Executive Director | Nashville P.R.O.P.E.L.

Sonya Thomas is one of the founding parent activists for the first of its kind parent MOVEMENT in Nashville, TN. 

Nashville P.R.O.P.E.L’s mission is to organize and develop powerful parent leaders to ignite a revolution that reinvents, reinvests, and propels education in Nashville Public Education. She is honored to lead this group of powerful parents to disrupt inequities in education. She joins founding leaders from Memphis, St. Louis, San Antonio, Oakland, Atlanta, and Dallas Fort Worth growing the national Powerful Parent Movement.  She believes when children are inspired and given what they need, every child will reach their greatest potential. 

Sonya has served as an education adviser to mayoral candidates and education centered groups in Tennessee and has challenged 2020 presidential candidates on their education plans. Sonya knows her most important role is being a mother to her beloved sons, Jordan and CJ and daughters Sarah and Trinity. In her spare time she enjoys watching college football (Roll Tide), reading, and sewing.

While she fights for change in school systems, she knows very well that parent partnership and educators play a vital role in improving the educational outcomes of all students and that literacy is the key to this work.  Her story, featured in “What the Words Say” by APM Reporter Emily Hanford, provides all of us with a call to action to improve literacy instruction for students and spurs us to action to ensure students are taught to read based on the research.

Sonya and the work of Nashville PROPEL has also been featured in  BET’s docuseries by executive producer Soledad O’Brien, “Disrupt and Dismantle.”  In 2023, the work will be featured in The Truth About Reading by executive producer Nick Nanton. 

Conference Session:
It’s a Revolution: Parents and Educators Working Together as Change Agents