About QLD's Affiliates
Dr. Susan Abplanalp, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Schools is a former teacher and principal of 10 years. In her most recent role as principal in the Madison Metropolitan School District, her school was awarded the Distinguished Title 1 School Award in 2000 and was nominated as a Promising Site in 2001 through the Department of Education because of its successful reform initiatives. Sue has provided consultation and seminars to school districts on whole school reform specifying data use, professional development, and implementation strategies. She has presented numerous times at the local, state, and national level. Her previous position as an Elementary Lead Principal and Director of Select Government Programs for the Madison Metropolitan School District allowed her to work with the 31 elementary schools in the district to support their needs along with district initiatives. In addition to her district work, Sue taught an undergraduate course at Edgewood College and a graduate course at Cardinal Stritch University.
Dr. Abplanalp received her BS in Elementary Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, a Master's Degree in Educational Leadership at Edgewood College and Ph.D. in Educational Leadership with a minor in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is currently responsible for 31 elementary schools and 11,000 students in the Madison Metropolitan School District. Sue is from the Madison, Wisconsin area.
Pat Alea is a nationally recognized speaker and consultant on demographics and strategic planning to Fortune 500 companies, and has over fifteen years experience consulting in the public and private sector on values-based communications strategies. Formerly Assistant Executive Director for the Wisconsin Alumni Association, she is an instructor for the UW-Madison Small Business Center, is featured regularly on Wisconsin Public Radio's Careertalk, and co-authored, The Best Work of Your Life (Penguin - Putnam, 1998). Pat has a Master's Degree in English from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Her career includes lifelong experience as a teacher in secondary and adult education settings. Her commitment to the joys and challenges of classroom teaching enable her to relate to educators with unique insight and humor. Pat is on the Board of Directors of the Women's Health Initiative, Wisconsin's Living Room Project for Women, and Madison Development Corporation among her other commitments to the arts, community and cultural change.
Dr. Carol Commodore, Ed.D., was a classroom teacher for over 20 years in addition to positions as assistant superintendent and administrator for assessment. Today Carol is a founding member of Leadership, Learning and Assessment, LLC and a professional development associate of Rick Stiggins' Assessment Training Institute. Carol strongly believes in bringing students into the decision making and implementation processes of assessment and instruction. She is continually looking for meaningful ways to assist educators in their reflective tools that will bring insight and joy to them and their students in the educational process. Carol's work takes her across the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Carol received her Bachelor's Degree in Spanish and English from Dominican College in Racine, Wisconsin, her Master's Degree in Curriculum and Supervision from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her Doctoral Degree in Leadership for the Advancement of Learning and Service from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her dissertation title is The Impact of Assessment on Learners and their Learning.
Anne Rodgers-Rhyme has provided training and facilitation for clients in education, non-profit organizations, government and the private sector throughout the Midwest for more than 20 years. Anne has co-authored 3 comprehensive training guides in problem solving, peer coaching and effective teaching strategies as well as an orientation guide for paraeducators. These guides have been used to train over 2,000 educators in Wisconsin. Anne's training style engages audiences through dialogue and practical applications that transfer new learning and applications to their work environments. Prior to entering private business, she worked with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, for 9 years, in the capacity of staff development specialist. In that role she provided technical assistance to school districts, cooperative education service agencies, colleges and universities. Her work focused on developing needs assessments, effective professional development practices, strategic planning and grants management. Prior to working for DPI, Anne spent ten years as an associate professor of education at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin. Anne holds degrees in education and business administration, and is the principal partner for Rodgers Rhyme Associates.
Lori Storer, currently an elementary principal in Indiana, began her teaching career in Ohio where she taught students in grades 1-12 in special education, specifically those with learning and emotional disabilities. Lori's work in urban and suburban settings as well as her experience in special education, general education, and gifted and talented education provides her with a diverse background in a variety of educational settings. Her teaching spans 18 years and experiences in grades 1-7 and 9-12.
Ms. Storer has extensive experience and leadership expertise in best practices for instruction, curriculum design, standards-based planning, and inquiry/problem-based learning, assessment/data disaggregation, and goal setting for veteran and new teachers. She has worked with teachers to move students/teachers out of AYP under NCLB and from the 96% to the 98% in academic achievement in a high performing district. Lori has participated in leadership development programs through NASA, Pioneering Partners, and the Indiana Principal Leadership Academy.
Ms. Storer graduated with a B.S. in General Education and Special Education from Bowling Green State University and a Master's Degree in Educational Leadership from Ball State University. Lori is from Carmel, Indiana near Indianapolis.
Dr. Elizabeth Warren has more than 25 years experience with PreK-16 education as an advocate, attorney, mediator, researcher, writer, evaluator, software trainer, speaker, librarian, planner, curriculum developer, and university instructor. In 2001, she founded EPI Corporation which offers mediation and professional consulting services to for-profit and not-for-profit businesses, government agencies, school districts, and schools. EPI Corporation works in partnership with QLD bring a systematic and systemic approach to continuous school improvement. Elizabeth is a certified facilitator in the SMART Schools/SMART Goals School Improvement Process.
Dr. Warren is the co-author of Refining Common Sense: Moving from Data to Information (Rowman and Littlefield, 2004). Her recent accomplishments include serving as an examiner for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award process (2005 and 2006), serving as the K-12 education representative on the launch team for the Georgia Center for Performance Excellence (2005-2006), and obtaining certification as a mediator in civil court disputes in South Carolina (2006).
Prior to founding EPI, Liz spent 12 years with the South Carolina School Boards Association where she served as general counsel, writing and revising school board policy, lobbying the South Carolina General Assembly on a wide range of state policy topics, and authoring of numerous reports and publications. She served as the first Executive Director of the 10 district Western Piedmont Education Consortium and as the Assistant to the Superintendent for research, development and evaluation in the Greenville County School District, the largest district in South Carolina.
Elizabeth has been an adjunct instructor for Furman University and the University of South Carolina and is currently working with students in on-line education leadership programs for Kaplan and Walden universities. She teaches courses in school law, school finance and educational research to students enrolled in advanced degree programs. Elizabeth holds B.A. (German, 1974), M.L.S. (Library Science, 1975), J.D. (Law, 1982) and Ph.D. (Education Administration, 1996) degrees from the University of South Carolina. She is admitted to practice law in South Carolina, and she resides in Taylors.
Prior to becoming a full-time consultant, Ann Zanzig spent 25 years in higher education administration, including serving as Dean of Students, Edgewood College, Madison, WI, and Director of Student Orientation Programs, UW–Madison. In addition to her private practice, Ann is currently a consultant for the Office of Quality Improvement at the UW–Madison, specializing in human resource allocation in the strategic planning process. Ann brings her expertise in accelerated process improvement, meeting facilitation, leadership development, and principles and tools of quality improvement to her work with not-for-profit organizations, school systems, and governing boards. She has a Master's Degree in Education and Counseling from the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh, and is author of The Clue Book: The Ultimate Student Survival Guide to Research Universities (1997).
QLD regularly contracts with highly qualified grant writers to assist schools and districts in obtaining the funds needed to support their school improvement work.
