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HTH Graduate School of Education Faculty
The HTH Graduate School of Education faculty reflects the school’s commitment to applying theoretical frameworks to practice and to linking teaching and education leadership to graduate level coursework. Some faculty members are educators who specialize in research and theory, while others are experienced practitioners. Together, they introduce both the theory and actuality of effective teaching and educational leadership to the graduate school classroom.
Visiting faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
Richard C. Atkinson served from 1995-2003 as the seventeenth president of the University of California system. His eight-year tenure was marked by innovative approaches to admissions and outreach, research initiatives to accelerate the university’s contributions to the state’s economy, and a challenge to the country’s most widely used admissions examination—the SAT 1—that initiated major changes in the way millions of America’s youth will be tested for college admissions. Before becoming president of the UC System, he served for fifteen years as chancellor of UC San Diego, leading its emergence as one of the top research universities in the nation. His own research in cognitive science and psychology addresses problems of memory and cognition. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Education, and the American Philosophical Society. He is a former director of the National Science Foundation, a past president of the American Association of Universities, and was a long-term member of the faculty at Stanford University. A mountain in Antarctica is named is his honor.
Faculty member in the Teacher Leadership program.
Stacey Caillier is the Director of the HTH GSE Teacher Leadership M.Ed. program. Prior to coming to High Tech High, she completed her doctorate at UC Davis in School Organization and Educational Policy. At her dissertation site, she collaborated with teachers to design and implement an action research project that led to many school-wide reforms. As a graduate teaching fellow at UC Davis and an adjunct faculty member in Hamline University’s Graduate School of Education, Stacey taught courses on action research and socio-cultural issues in education, mentored practicing teachers, and presented her work at multiple educational conferences. She began her career as a high school physics and math teacher at a Portland, Oregon high school affiliated with the Coalition of Essential Schools. She later served as a teacher and science specialist in a California charter school. Stacey majored in physics and English at Willamette University, where she also earned a Master’s in Teaching and a secondary physics and math credential.
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Faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
Ben Daley is the Director of the HTH GSE School Leadership M.Ed. program. Ben began his High Tech High tenure as a physics and robotics teacher. His role evolved to School Director, and then to Chief Academic Officer. As CAO, Ben works closely with school directors and teachers to provide leadership for hiring, curriculum, and professional development for all High Tech schools. Additionally, he has been instrumental in the opening of six new schools. Ben graduated from Haverford College in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in physics, as well as teaching credentials in both physics and math. He went on to receive a Master’s of Arts in Science Education from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1999.
Faculty member in the School Leadership program.
Libia Gil is a senior fellow for the American Institutes for Research (AIR), where she assists in leadership development initiatives and collaborates with states and districts to develop strategies for improving student achievement. Libia was Superintendent of the Chula Vista Elementary School District for over nine years. Under her leadership, which began in 1993, the district experienced continuous growth and is currently serving more than 27,000 students in 43 schools. Libia also fostered the successful implementation of numerous partnerships and school change models, resulting in the creation of six charter schools that have shown continual gains in student achievement and customer satisfaction. In 2002, she received the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education for her outstanding leadership in Chula Vista. She is nationally recognized for her work in redesigning central office roles and functions to serve and support teaching and learning. Libia began her teaching career in the Los Angeles Unified School District and, with her colleagues, created a successful K-12 alternative school and numerous alternative classroom programs. She has held a variety of administrative positions including school principal, Area Administrator (supervisor of K-12 principals), and Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction. Libia holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on bilingual and multicultural education from the University of Washington.
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Faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
Blair Hatch earned his bachelor’s degree from California State University Humboldt in 1987, and a Master’s in Science from National University in 1994. Over the course of his teaching career, Blair has taught biology, health, physical education, computerized graphic design and multimedia production. Now teaching multimedia at High Tech High, with support from the San Diego City Schools ROP program, Blair is committed to the school’s approach to education through project based learning, internships, and alternative assessment. Blair will contribute to several courses focused on technology and digital portfolio development.
Visiting faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
Gary Hoachlander is president of ConnectEd: The California Center for College and Career. Beginning his career in 1966 as a brakeman for the Western Maryland Railroad, Gary has devoted most of his professional life to helping young people learn by doing—connecting education to the opportunities, challenges, and many different rewards to be found through work. Widely known for his expertise in career and technical education and many other aspects of elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education, Gary has consulted extensively for the U.S. Department of Education, state departments of education, local school districts, foundations, and a variety of other clients. Gary is the president of MPR Associates, Inc., an educational research and development organization closely affiliated with ConnectEd. He is also one of the country’s leading policy analysts for the U.S. Department of Education, including the National Center for Education Statistics and the Office of Vocational and Adult Education. Both MPR Associates and ConnectEd are headquartered in Berkeley, California. Gary earned his bachelor’s degree at Princeton University and holds master’s and doctoral degrees from the Department of City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley.
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Faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
Jennifer Husbands is the Director of the Credentialing and Induction Programs at High Tech High. She comes to HTH from Stanford University’s School of Education, where she completed her doctorate in the Administration and Policy Analysis program. At Stanford she served as a research assistant on numerous school reform projects and wrote her dissertation, a case study of high school reform in San Diego City Schools, under the direction of Milbrey McLaughlin. She co-authored A Review of Selected High School Reform Strategies for the Aspen Institute in 2001, and contributed a chapter to the Scarecrow Press publication, Leadership for Building Instructional Quality: The Story of San Diego’s Systemic School Reform, with a team of colleagues led by Linda Darling-Hammond. Before returning to graduate school, Jennifer served as the Evaluation Specialist for the National School & Community Corps, a school-based AmeriCorps program, and prior to that she was a Marketing Researcher at National Analysts Research & Consulting in Philadelphia. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia with highest honors.
Visiting faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
As a Professor in Residence at the University of San Diego, Frank Kemerer teaches education law in both the School of Law and the School of Leadership and Education. For 25 years he taught education law as a Regents Professor at the University of North Texas in Denton, where he also served as the Director of the Center for the Study of Education Reform and conducted several major studies on school choice and charter schools. He received his doctorate in educational administration and policy analysis from Stanford University in 1975 with a law minor from Stanford Law School. He has authored, coauthored, or co-edited twelve books. Among them is the legal textbook Constitutional Rights (West Publishing Company 1979); School Choice and Social Controversy: Politics, Policy and Law (Brookings Institution Press 1999); and School Choice Tradeoffs: Liberty, Equity, and Diversity (University of Texas Press 2002). He received the Scribes Certificate of Distinction in 1992 from the American Society of Writers on Legal Subjects for William Wayne Justice: A Judicial Biography (University of Texas Press 1991) and the 2002 Bronze Medal Book of the Year Award in Education from Foreword Magazine for School Choice Tradeoffs. His latest book, California School Law, was published by Stanford University Press in 2005.
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Faculty member in the School Leadership program.
Kay has worked on the business side of public education for the past 19 years. Prior to joining High Tech High, she served as Budget Supervisor and, most recently, Director of Payroll and Benefits for San Diego Unified School District. Prior to coming to California, she managed a nonprofit arts organization in Iowa, was assistant manager for financial operations of the Des Moines Convention Center, and was an accountant for the Salt Lake County Treasurer. Kay is a graduate of Iowa State University.
Visiting faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
Deborah Meier is currently on the faculty of New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education as a senior scholar and adjunct professor. She is also a Board member and director of New Ventures at Mission Hill, director and advisor to the Forum for Democracy and Education, and on the Board of The Coalition of Essential Schools. Meier has spent more than four decades working in public education as a teacher, writer and public advocate. She began her teaching career as a kindergarten and Head Start teacher in Chicago, Philadelphia and New York City schools. She was the founder and teacher-director of a network of highly successful public elementary schools in East Harlem. Between 1992 and 1996 she also served as co-director of the Coalition Campus Project that successfully redesigned the reform of two large failing city high schools, and created a dozen new small Coalition schools. She was an advisor to New York City’s Annenberg Challenge and Senior Fellow at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University from 1995-1997. From 1997 to 2005, she was the founder and principal of the Mission Hill School, a K-8 Boston Public Pilot school serving 180 children in the Roxbury community.
Meier attended Antioch College and received a Master’s in history from the University of Chicago. She has received honorary degrees from Bank Street College of Education, Brown, Bard, Clark, Teachers College of Columbia University, Dartmouth, Harvard, Hebrew Union College, Hofstra, The New School, Lesley College, SUNY Albany, UMASS Lowell, and Yale. She was a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 1987. Her books, The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons to America from a Small School in Harlem (1995), Will Standards Save Public Education? (2000), In Schools We Trust (2002), Keeping School, with Ted and Nancy Sizer (2004) and Many Children Left Behind (2004) are all published by Beacon Press.
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Visiting faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
Ted Mitchell is President and CEO of the NewSchools Venture Fund, a venture philanthropy firm working to transform public education by supporting the creation of entrepreneurial organizations that serve the nation’s most underserved communities. Ted became the CEO of NewSchools in the fall of 2005. He began a lifetime’s work in education as a professor at Dartmouth College, moving to Stanford, then to UCLA, and most recently to Occidental College, where he served as President from 1999-2005. Ted is a national leader in the effort to provide high-quality education for all students and has long been active in California and Los Angeles educational reform initiatives. He currently chairs the Governor’s Committee on Educational Excellence, charged with making recommendations to overhaul California’s system of K-12 finance and governance. Ted received his bachelor’s degree in History and Economics, his master’s degree in History, and his doctorate in the history of American education, all from Stanford. He also served as a member of the Stanford Board of Trustees from 1985-1990.
Faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
Robert (Bob) Parker is the director of special education at High Tech High. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1970 from California State University Long Beach, where he also earned a master’s degree in educational psychology in 1972. In his thirty plus years in public education, Bob has been employed as a school psychologist, school principal and a district office administrator. Most recently, he served in the capacity of Program Manager for Due Process and Procedural Safeguards for the Desert/Mountain Special Education Local Plan Area (D/M SELPA) in San Bernardino County. Bob holds California life credentials in the areas of school psychology and school administrative services. He also has been granted life credentials for community college authorization in psychology coursework and counseling services.
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Faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
Robert (Rob) Riordan is the Dean of the HTH GSE and the Director of Instructional Support for all HTH schools. Rob has worked as a teacher, trainer, and program developer for 35 years. His current and recent projects include work as one of the founders of High Tech High, and as special assistant to the Principal at the Cambridge (MA) Rindge and Latin School (CRLS), overseeing the re-design of that high school into five small schools. Earlier, as a teacher at CRLS, Rob developed an award-winning writing center and two high school internship programs, for which he was named National School to Work Practitioner of the Year in 1994. He is co-author, with Adria Steinberg and Kathleen Cushman, of Schooling for the Real World: The Essential Guide to Rigorous and Relevant Learning (Jossey Bass, 1999). Rob was a lead researcher on the New Urban High School Project. He earned his doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and his bachelor’s degree from Haverford College.
Faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
Larry Rosenstock is the President of the HTH Graduate School of Education and the Chief Executive Officer of High Tech High. Larry earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Brandeis University in 1970. In 1985 he earned a Master’s of Education in Education Administration from Cambridge College, and in 1986 he received a law degree from Boston University School of Law. Larry taught carpentry for eleven years in urban high schools before serving as staff attorney at the Harvard Center for Law and Education. At the Center, he collaborated on the authorization of the 1990 Perkins Vocational Education and Applied Technology Act. He was, for six years, Executive Director of the Rindge School for Technical Arts (Cambridge, MA) which was at the forefront of current changes in technical arts education practice. Larry was a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education for five years, and later directed the New Urban High School Project of the U.S. Department of Education. He came to San Diego in 1997, as the president of Price Charities, and was one of the founders of High Tech High.
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Visiting faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
Leslie Santee Siskin is a noted sociologist of organizations and organizational change. Her research focuses on high school structuring, restructuring, and reform. She is the author or co-author of several articles and books about high schools, including Realms of Knowledge: Academic Departments in Secondary Schools, The Subjects in Question: Departmental Organization and the High School, and The New Accountability: High Schools and High-stakes Testing. She has been a Fellow at Columbia University and Cambridge University, and was Associate Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and at Hofstra before coming to New York University. Leslie earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from Stanford University, and her bachelor’s from Middlebury College.
Visiting faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
Nancy Faust Sizer is a career teacher who has worked in public and private high schools, including Cambridge Rindge and Latin, Phillips Academy, and the Wheeler School. With her husband, Theodore R. Sizer, she has taught at Brown University and currently teaches at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Both Nancy and Ted recently served as acting co-principals at the Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School where Nancy also was Transition Counselor, helping to lead its first graduating class through the transition to postsecondary education. The Students Are Watching: Schools and the Moral Contract (Beacon Press, 1999) is her most recent book, written with her husband Ted.
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Visiting faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
Ted Sizer is arguably the leading educational reformer in the United States. In 1984, he founded the Coalition of Essential Schools and is currently serving as its chair emeritus. Ted received his Bachelor of Arts from Yale, and his doctorate from Harvard. He held several teaching positions before becoming Dean of the Graduate School of Education at Harvard and, subsequently, the Headmaster of Phillips Academy in Andover, MA. He is the Founding Director of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform. After retiring from Brown University, Professor Sizer took a one-year position as Head of the Francis W. Parker Essential School. Since the late 1970s, he has worked with hundreds of high schools, studying the development and design of the American education system.
Faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
As the Design Director for HTH Learning, David works to design, develop, and modify facilities for new and existing HTH schools. A founding member of the HTH team, David has a strong interest in the connection between innovative facility design and project-based teaching and learning. He also plays a key role in the design and production of web-based media, newsletters, videos, and graphic materials that describe and celebrate HTH students, teachers, and programs. Before coming to HTH, David worked as Senior Program Officer for the New Urban High School Project, a federally funded initiative to assist cutting-edge high schools nationwide. He has seven years experience as a high school teacher and program coordinator, and ten years experience as an architect. David received his Bachelor of Arts from Rhode Island School of Design, and a Master’s of Education from Lesley College.
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Visiting faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
Tom Vander Ark is President of the X PRIZE Foundation, an educational non-profit prize institute that offers multi-million dollar awards for breakthrough innovations that benefit humanity. As Executive Director of Education for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Vander Ark developed and implemented more than $3.5 billion in scholarship and grant programs to improve education throughout the United States. Prior to his role with the Gates Foundation, Vander Ark served as superintendent of one of Washington State’s larger school districts that has been recognized for narrowing the achievement gap and reducing administrative cost. Vander Ark also has extensive experience in the private sector: he served as a senior executive for a start-up retail chain that achieved $5 billion in revenue, and has management and consulting experience in energy, telecommunications and business formation. Tom has a Master’s of Business Administration in Energy Finance from the University of Denver and a Bachelor of Science in Mineral Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines.
Faculty member in the Teacher Leadership and School Leadership programs.
Jed Wallace is the Chief Operating Officer of High Tech High. He began his career in public education working as a 5th grade teacher in South Central Los Angeles at Hooper Avenue Elementary School, a 2000-student school that had the second-lowest API ranking of any school in Los Angeles County. In his third year of teaching, he established the Hooper Family Strand, a school-within-a-school inspired by the work of Deborah Meier that reduced teacher and student transience and significantly improved student results on state-mandated tests. The successful model was exported across the school and became the basis for a charter school application. Jed also worked in the Office of the Superintendent at San Diego City Schools, answering directly to the superintendent and serving as the district’s Charter School Liaison. He performed oversight activities for the district’s 22 charter schools and led the district’s efforts to develop and approve a new Charter School Policy and Guidelines and a charter school Memo of Understanding template. These documents have since been cited by numerous organizations, including the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, as models for other chartering authorities in California and across the nation. Jed also coordinated the district’s implementation of the federal No Child Left Behind Act and was honored to serve as an Associate Resident for the inaugural cohort of the Broad Foundation’s Residency in Urban Education. Prior to his work in education, Jed served on the staff of Congressman David E. Skaggs overseeing the office’s response to the Savings and Loan crisis and serving as liaison to business leaders in Colorado’s Second Congressional District. Mr. Wallace received a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in 1988, a Master’s of Fine Arts in playwriting from UC Los Angeles in 1992, and a Master’s in Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 2002.
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