VUE 21: Author Biographies

Voices in Urban Education

A Smart System in London
VUE Number 21, Fall 2008

Author Biographies

David Bell

David Bell is Permanent Secretary at the Department for Children, Schools, and Families in the UK. He was born in Glasgow in March 1959. He studied history and philosophy at Glasgow University and obtained his PGCE from Jordanhill College of Education. He also has a Master of Education degree in management and administration from Glasgow University. Mr Bell has held teaching posts at primary schools in Glasgow, moving on to become a deputy head, and then a headteacher in Essex. In 1990 he became assistant director of education at Newcastle City Council. During this time he spent a year as a Harkness Fellow at Georgia State University, Atlanta, studying education and local government reform across the United States of America. Mr Bell trained as an Ofsted team inspector in 1993. He became a Registered Inspector in 1994 and carried out inspections in primary schools. He was promoted to director of education and libraries at Newcastle City Council in 1995 and became chief executive of Bedfordshire County Council in 2000. Mr Bell took up his post as HMCI on 1 May 2002. He was appointed HMCI in England by the Privy Council on 12 February 2002. In 2005, he was appointed Permanent Secretary at the Department for Education and Skills, which was reorganized as the Department for Children, Schools, and Families in 2007. Mr Bell is married with two daughters. His hobbies include reading, particularly anything to do with American politics, keeping fit and watching Rushden and Diamonds Football Club.

> VUE 21 Article: A National Strategy for Improving Outcomes for Children and Youth

Ronald Chaluisan

Ronald Chaluisan is vice-president for programs of New Visions for Public Schools. He currently leads the development, implementation, and assessment of programs in the divisions of New School Development, Teaching and Learning and Leadership Development for K-12 public schools. Previously, as Director of Small Schools, he oversaw the New Century High Schools Initiative, a comprehensive school creation process, and designed a wide range of supports for existing small schools throughout New York City. He was the co-founder and principal of The New York City Museum School, a New Visions small school collaboration between Community School District 2 and the American Museum of Natural History, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Children’s Museum of Manhattan and the South Street Seaport Museum.

> VUE 20 Article: Partnering for Success: The Creation of Urban Schools That Work Better

Kevan Collins

Dr. Kevan Collins is the Corporate Director — Children’s Services, Tower Hamlets. Dr. Collins has considerable teaching experience in London, Bradford and abroad in Africa. Kevan worked as a senior adviser for Bradford education where he led the authority language and literacy support services. In January 2003 Kevan was appointed as the National Director of the Primary National Strategy. He led the introduction of Excellence and Enjoyment the government’s strategy for primary schools. In September 2005 Kevan was appointed to become the first Director of Children’s Services in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. In this new post he led the work on the Every Child Matters agenda and established the Children’s Services Directorate to integrate and improve the array of services that support children and their families. Kevan has also provided support as a consultant to a national literacy initiative in the USA working with the New York Institute of Special Education and Pennsylvania University in Philadelphia.

> VUE 21 Article: A Service Fit for Children

Janice Hirota

Janice M. Hirota is an anthropologist who has has extensive fieldwork experience in urban America. She has studied homeless populations in New York City; municipal and non-profit social service personnel; mass media professionals; and political and community activists in urban and rural cities around the nation. At present, her work focuses on efforts to create systemic reform in public education. She has a doctorate in anthropology from Columbia University, and currently heads the Documentation Unit at New Visions for Public Schools.

> VUE 21 Article: Partnering for Success: The Creation of Urban Schools That Work Better

Robet Hughes

Robert L. Hughes is president and chief executive officer of New Visions for Public Schools. New Visions works with the New York City public school system, the private sector, and the community to mobilize resources and develop programs and policies that lead to significant, lasting improvement in the achievement of all children. Since its founding in 1989, New Visions created 122 new small public schools, including 86 New Century high schools in the last five years. Mr. Hughes, an attorney, has long been an advocate for improved access to and outcomes within the New York City public school system. He served as co-counsel in the nationally watched court case, The Campaign for Fiscal Equity v. The State of New York, challenging the equity of New York State’s educational finance system.

> VUE 21 Article: Partnering for Success: The Creation of Urban Schools That Work Better

Helen Jenner

Helen Jennre is the Service Head: Early Years, Children and Learning — Tower Hamlets After starting her career as a primary teacher Helen moved into advisory work as a mathematics consultant, and adviser for newly qualified teachers in the Inner London Education Authority. She became a Primary School Headteacher at Harbinger School in Tower Hamlets, where she stayed for 13 years. Helen was seconded to provide advisory support to secondary schools on numeracy and to work as an associate inspector for Tower Hamlets before joining the new School Improvement Team when it was set up in 1999. She has continued to work with the local authority holding posts as Head of Early Years and Service Head: Access and Inclusion. She took up her current post when the new Children’s Services Directorate was formed.

> VUE 21 Article: Delivering through Partnerships

Sir Alasdair Macdonald

Sir Alasdair Macdonald is headteacher of Morpeth School, Tower Hamlets, London, United Kingdom. He has been made a knight for services to education, with his extensive work on improving the school, by improving teaching skills and achievements by pupils in their SATs and GCSEs results.

> VUE 21 Article: “Out of Hours”: Making the “Extra” Part of the Core Business of Schooling

Robert Rothman

Robert Rothman is responsible for writing Annenberg Institute publications and editing the Institute's quarterly journal Voices in Urban Education, a "roundtable-in-print" designed to air diverse viewpoints and share new knowledge on vital issues in urban education. He has written for numerous education publications and organizations and was a reporter and editor for Education Week. He was also a senior project associate for Achieve, a study director for the National Research Council, and the director of special projects for the National Center on Education and the Economy. Bob holds a BA in political science from Yale University. He is the author of Measuring Up: Standards, Assessment and School Reform and numerous book chapters and articles on testing and education reform.

> VUE 20 Article: Making Sure Every Child Matters

Glenys Tolley

Glenys Tolley is Director, Play Association, Tower Hamlets. Glenys has been the director of PATH (Play Association Tower Hamlets) for almost two years but has been involved in developing children’s play and voluntary sector development for over 20 years. Glenys moved to London from Northern Ireland in the mid eighties, making a brief return to work for PlayBoard (NI) on developing a Play Policy for Belfast in 1996. Returning to London Glenys worked on an inclusive play project increasing accessible play opportunities for disabled children. In the five years prior to her current role, Glenys was a Play Development worker with London Play, a second tier regional support organisation working across London. Part of this role was to set up and support new and existing voluntary sector play associations across London and to co-ordinate Quality in Play (a quality assurance scheme for play providers). Glenys also managed the Home Zones for London Project with an emphasis on re-claiming the streets for children’s play and community use and is a Trustee of the Freeplay Network.

> VUE 21 Article: The Voluntary Sector Experience in Tower Hamlets: A Case Study