LaToya Bufford
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF DATA SYSTEMS AND QUALITY
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF DATA SYSTEMS AND QUALITY | LaToya Bufford
In her role, LaToya leads the design, implementation, and ongoing management of CORE’s primary data platforms, including the CORE360 reporting suite and the CORE Data Portal. Her work ensures districts have secure, timely, and meaningful access to high-quality data that supports continuous improvement, learning, and decision-making. She also oversees day-to-day operations of the CORE Data Collaborative, identifying partner needs, streamlining communication and workflows, and translating complex data requirements into usable tools and reports.
LaToya brings extensive experience in student assessment administration, data processing, reporting, and program evaluation. She has deep knowledge of California state and federal accountability and testing requirements and has worked closely with researchers, district leaders, technical staff, and educators on a wide range of data and research-focused initiatives. Her hands-on expertise includes coordinating large-scale data processing, assessment and survey administration, and facilitating trainings and technical support for district administrators.
LaToya holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a master’s degree in Business Administration. She lives in her hometown of Sacramento with her husband and five children. Her work is driven by a commitment to strengthening data systems and improving access to reliable, actionable information that ultimately supports student success and more equitable outcomes.
Email: latoya@coredistricts.org
Dave Calhoun
PROJECT SPECIALIST
PROJECT SPECIALIST | Dave Calhoun
Dave Calhoun provides data system support for the CORE Districts and Data Collaborative districts and partnering educational agencies. He also provides measurement consultation support for various CORE improvement projects, and he manages the social and emotional learning survey system that CORE developed.
Dave was a high school mathematics teacher, and the Executive Director of research, evaluation, and assessment in Fresno Unified School District for 30 years prior to his direct work with CORE. As a Fresno Unified administrator, Dave served as the CORE liaison for many projects since CORE’s formation in 2010. Dave was recognized as the Fresno Public Education Fund High School Teacher of the Year in 1995. He has worked to develop and provide mathematics professional development across the country as a part of the Interactive Mathematics Project (IMP), and he has published and presented various research papers.
Email: dave.c@coredistricts.org
Juli Coleman
CHIEF OF IMPROVEMENT, SCHOOL NETWORKS
CHIEF OF IMPROVEMENT, SCHOOL NETWORKS | Juli Coleman
Email: juli.c@coredistricts.org
Emily Dalton
OPERATIONS SPECIALIST
OPERATIONS SPECIALIST | Emily Dalton
Emily Dalton is a seasoned operations and project management professional with over 16 years of experience supporting executive leaders, governing boards, and cross-functional teams in healthcare and education settings. Throughout her career, she has excelled in streamlining processes, managing complex logistics, and driving organizational efficiency through collaboration and clear communication.
As an Operations Specialist with CORE Districts, Emily applies her expertise in process improvement, contract management, and HR coordination to strengthen the organization’s internal systems and promote operational excellence. Her work ensures that CORE’s operations and HR functions run smoothly and efficiently, fostering a high-performing and equitable culture that supports educators and advances CORE’s mission to promote educational equity and improve student outcomes across California’s districts.
Email: emily@coredistricts.org
Hasmik Davtyan
DATA STRATEGIST
DATA STRATEGIST | Hasmik Davtyan
Prior to joining CORE, Hasmik spent over 25 years in the Market Research industry, where she honed her expertise in data processing, validation, and reporting. A lifelong learner, she is constantly seeking new tools and technologies to expand her technical toolkit.
She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics from UCLA, with a specialization in Computing and a minor in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. She resides in Santa Clarita, California with her two children. When she isn’t spending time with family or catching up with friends, she enjoys expressing her creativity by crafting floral arrangements at a friend’s flower shop.
Email: hasmik@coredistricts.org
Ahra Dickson
PROGRAM COORDINATOR
PROGRAM COORDINATOR | Ahra Dickson
As Program Coordinator at CORE Districts, Ahra supports school networks including the Breakthrough Success Community (BTSC), CORE Schools, the CORE
Board Community of Practice (CoP), and the Data Collaborative through event coordination, logistical support, and day-to-day program operations.
Before joining CORE, Ahra worked with the CollegeBuys team in the Enterprise and Procurement Services department at the Foundation for California Community Colleges, where she gained experience in client and stakeholder support, project coordination, operations, and event planning.
Outside of work, Ahra is a proud mom of two boys who enjoys hosting gatherings, creating welcoming spaces, and caring for her growing plant collection.
Email: ahra@coredistricts.org
Brenda Escoriza (Paredes)
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
CHIEF BUSINESS OFFICER | Brenda Escoriza (Paredes)
Prior to joining CORE, Brenda served as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Accountant at an accounting firm specializing in non-profit organizations. She provided financial consulting services to more than 15 large-medium scale non-profits working in higher education, poverty alleviation, and child development, while also leading internal operations and HR for the firm. Across her career, Brenda has brought deep expertise in finance, operations, and human resources to mission-driven organizations.
Brenda’s commitment to education began over 15 years ago when she helped manage a Title I charter school in Sacramento. That experience inspired her to earn a Master of Arts in Instructional Communication from California State University, Sacramento, where she wrote her thesis on educational policy for English Language Learners. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication and maintains several professional certifications, including the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification and the Society for Human Resource Management Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) certification, as well as a Dropout Prevention Specialist certification, a bookkeeping certification, and a post-graduate certification in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: Business Applications from the University of Texas at Austin.
Brenda is passionate about strengthening mission-driven organizations and advancing equitable educational opportunities for students. As a first-generation immigrant, she understands the pressing need for student support at all levels. Brenda is fluent in Spanish.
Email: brenda@coredistricts.org
Hanah Garcia-Uhl
PROGRAM AND EVENTS MANAGER
PROGRAM AND EVENTS MANAGER | Hanah Garcia-Uhl
Before joining CORE, Hanah completed her bachelor’s degree at California State University, Sacramento, and worked as a secretary for a middle school in the San Juan Unified School District. This experience in an educational setting has informed her current role and passion for supporting students indirectly through her work.
Hanah holds a Bachelor’s degree from California State University, Sacramento. Outside of work, she enjoys indulging in iced matcha lattes and exploring local thrift stores. Hanah currently resides in the Sacramento area, where she continues to pursue her passion for educational support and resource development.
Email: hanah@coredistricts.org
JR Gold
SENIOR DATA ENGINEER
SENIOR DATA ENGINEER | JR Gold
JR Gold serves as Senior Data Engineer for CORE Districts’ Data Collaborative. He works with districts in the Data Collaborative and, through data, supports CORE’s work in the Breakthrough Success Community, the College Roadmap project, custom dashboard development, and the Improvement Capacity Building Program. JR comes to CORE Districts after 9 years as a Research Analyst in the Assessment, Evaluation and Planning department at San Juan Unified School District. While at San Juan, JR learned to utilize business intelligence software and multiple data tools to create in-depth reports in support of the district’s On-Track metrics, enabling teachers and administrators to better support students through timely interventions.
JR’s passion for data and equity in education fuels his desire to assist districts in their continuous improvement efforts through better data and increased capability. He looks to grow in strategic thinking, program evaluation, and technical expertise to strengthen his abilities to support districts and their data needs.
JR holds a B.A. in History and Religious Studies from UC Davis, and an MBA from Azusa Pacific University. He resides with his wife, two children, and dog in Carmichael, CA .
Email: robert@coredistricts.org
Kirsten Joie Ignacio-Phu
SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER
SENIOR PRODUCT MANAGER| Kristen Joie Ignacio-Phu
Kirsten Joie Ignacio-Phu is a Senior Data Product Manager at CORE Districts, where she leads the design and continuous improvement of data systems, dashboards, and other tools that help educators and district leaders use data in service of equity and meaningful improvement. Her work focuses on making complex information clear, accessible, and useful; bridging technical systems with the real needs of program teams and schools.
Before joining CORE, Kirsten Joie worked as a preschool teacher and case manager for young children and families in the Bay Area. Seeing firsthand how programs could change lives sparked her passion for program evaluation and data-driven decision-making. She has since built a career centered on helping social and educational initiatives turn insight into action.
A first-generation college graduate, Kirsten Joie holds a B.A. in Psychology from UC Irvine and a Master of Social Welfare from UC Berkeley. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and their three beloved pets: Max the Maltipoo, Koa the Chihuahua, and Willow the American Shorthair cat. She also enjoys figure skating, long walks, and getting lost in a good book.
Email: kirstenjoie@coredistricts.org
Doug Kriedeman
SENIOR IMPROVEMENT SPECIALIST
SENIOR IMPROVEMENT SPECIALIST | Doug Kriedeman
Email: doug@coredistricts.org
Brandi Lites
SENIOR PROGRAM MANAGER
SENIOR PROGRAM MANAGER | Brandi Lites
Brandi Lites servers as the Senior Program Manager for CORE Districts. In her role, she supports the program leaders who run CORE’s District Partnerships, School Networks, and Capability Building Programs. Brandi is responsible for implementing platforms designed to support and assist all team members as well as ensure successful program launches.
Prior to joining CORE, Brandi worked as a Legislative and Strategic Projects Manager for a tech start-up company that manufactures the world’s first digital license plate. She managed lobbying teams across the country as well as an overseas design team. Brandi graduated from Sonoma State University with a B.A. in International Studies and a minor in Political Science with a focus in Iberian Peninsula studies.
Brandi comes from a family of educators and understands the importance of providing young scholars with every opportunity to achieve their highest potential. Her passion to work with marginalized communities aligns with CORE’s mission to bridge education equity gaps and assist students to reach their goals. Brandi currently resides in her hometown, Sacramento, with her cat, Hoagie.
Email: brandi@coredistricts.org
Iris Lopez
SENIOR IMPROVEMENT SPECIALIST
SENIOR IMPROVEMENT SPECIALIST | Iris Lopez
Iris Lopez is a Senior Improvement Specialist supporting innovation and co-developing best practices alongside the 9th Grade Breakthrough Success Community (BTSC) in LA and Long Beach schools. In her role, Iris focuses on collaborating with school teams to identify, execute, and sustain equity-based strategies for 9th grade on-track success. Prior to joining CORE, Iris worked at Summit Public Schools as a founding teacher for the network’s second East Bay Area school that opened in 2016. In her five years at Summit, in addition to teaching 9th grade English, Iris led site staff in adopting quality improvement methodologies to structure adult learning and improvement teams and to address school-specific and org-level equity challenges, such as disproportionate suspension rates and learning gaps between emergent bilinguals and their peers.
As a former 9th grade teacher, mentor, and grade level team lead, Iris aims to help schools bridge the best that research and practitioner expertise has to offer on how school systems can best support the developmental and academic transition from middle school to high school. Iris is deeply interested in learning how systems are designed to produce the results that we see in education and how educators can reconfigure them to provide more caring and supportive environments for all students to have access to success. Before working directly in schools, Iris worked at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a Post-Baccalaureate Fellow with leading education scholars and partners in learning how improvement science can be used to accelerate change in educational systems.
Iris earned her B.A. in Psychology from Harvard University with a focus on adolescent development and learning. Following her time at Carnegie, she obtained her Single-Subject English Credential and M.A. in Education at UC Berkeley.
Email: iris@coredistricts.org
Brigitte Marshall
CHIEF OF STAFF
CHIEF OF STAFF | Brigitte Marshall
Brigitte has worked as a teacher, Principal, Director, non profit Executive Director, and Associate Superintendent, and has also taught in teacher education and administrative service credential programs in the California State University system. She has published and edited articles and ESL training materials and textbooks. Brigitte concluded her career in the public education system with five years of service as the Chief Talent Officer for Oakland Unified School District.
Brigitte believes passionately in the need to develop relationally healthy public service organizations where people can excel and do their best work in service of the public good. She is committed to nurturing practices that reduce unproductive conflict, and restorative practices when conflict and harm have occurred.
Brigitte holds joint bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford in England, and a California Administrative Services Credential. She is also certified in Community Mediation and Conflict Resolution and serves on the Community Mediation Panel for Services that Encourage Effective Dialogue and Solutions (SEEDS). Brigitte is a Certified Professional Coach through Leadership that Works, accredited by the International Coaching Federation.
Brigitte lives in El Cerrito, with her dog Freddie, after launching her three publicly educated children, Pia, Gwen and Cole.
Email: brigitte@coredistricts.org
Amanda Meyer
DEPUTY CHIEF OF IMPROVEMENT – SCHOOL NETWORKS
DEPUTY CHIEF OF IMPROVEMENT - SCHOOL NETWORKS | Amanda Meyer
Amanda Meyer is Deputy Chief of Improvement, School Networks at CORE Districts, where she supports educators in large urban systems to improve experiences and outcomes for students historically least well-served. In addition to directly coaching school- and district-level leaders, Amanda develops improvement network infrastructure that allows schools to learn from data and one another. Prior to joining CORE in 2017, she was an improvement science specialist at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, leading within K–12 and higher education networks and delivering professional development in continuous improvement methods.
Amanda has completed the Advance Fellowship in Improvement Science and the Pathways to Equity Fellowship. She is particularly interested in the intersection of improvement science, design, and community organizing.
Amanda began her career as a high school English as a Second Language teacher in San Antonio, Texas. She holds a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis in Latin American Studies, Spanish, and Educational Studies. Amanda currently resides in the Bay Area.
Email: amanda@coredistricts.org
Samuel Milder
SENIOR IMPROVEMENT SPECIALIST
SENIOR IMPROVEMENT SPECIALIST | Samuel Milder
Sam Milder is a Senior Improvement Specialist, helping high schools redesign the 9th grade experience to help all students experience a successful first year in high school. In addition to his coaching work, he supports the whole of the CORE Breakthrough Success Community network in administering a student-adult relationship survey and in fostering healthy relationships with their students.
Sam got his start in education as an English as a Foreign Language teacher and this taught him that knowing his students and their interests was the best way to make the language they were learning come alive for them. The lens of student-centered, authentic learning has continued to inform his work.
Sam also worked in policy and program evaluation at the NYCDOE, was a founding member of two networks for school improvement working to improve outcomes for multilingual learners in South Brooklyn and the Bronx. He is the lead author of the NYC Improvement Science Handbook, and helped spread improvement methodology across the many programs of the NYCDOE.
Email: samuel@coredistricts.org
Rick Miller
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER | Rick Miller
Rick Miller serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the CORE Districts. Prior to starting CORE, Rick was the Deputy State Superintendent for P-16 Policy and Information Branch of the California Department of Education. In this position, Rick developed policy recommendations on promising ways to improve student achievement throughout California, specifically focused on closing the state’s achievement gaps from PreK to Higher Education. Prior to his time at the CDE, Rick worked at Microsoft Corporation developing communications strategies on privacy, security, and overall corporate image. Rick also served as a strategic communications advisor to the Chancellor of the California State University System (CSU).
Prior to working at CSU, Rick served in the U.S. Department of Education in Washington D.C. as Press Secretary to Richard W. Riley, Secretary of Education in the Clinton Administration. Rick also spent time during those years periodically detailed to the White House Office of Advance where he traveled domestically and internationally on behalf of President Clinton.
Rick lives in Rocklin, California with his wife Julie, an elementary school speech therapist. They have two children: Casey, a graduate from the University of Washington and Ryan, a junior at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Rick also serves on the board of the Placer County Food Bank and previously served as an elected member of the Rocklin Unified School Board.
Email: rick@coredistricts.org
David Montes de Oca
CHIEF OF IMPROVEMENT, DISTRICT PARTNERSHIPS
CHIEF OF IMPROVEMENT, DISTRICT PARTNERSHIPS | David Montes de Oca
With over 34 years of experience in public education, he has served as a teacher, school principal, and various central office district leadership positions, including Executive Director, Associate Superintendent, and Deputy Chief; all focused on public education reform.
As the Founding Principal of Oakland Unified School District’s Urban Promise Academy, Montes collaborated with the National Equity Project and parent community organizers. He has led numerous initiatives, including secondary school redesign, development of school performance frameworks, and community-based processes for setting school quality standards.
Montes is motivated by a favorite quote: “Sometimes we are blessed with being able to choose the time, and the arena, and the manner of our revolution, but more usually we must do battle where we are standing.” Audre Lorde
Montes co-launched CORE’s Equity Council and has served on national panels and advisory boards focused on equity in education, including the Gates Foundation’s Equity in Continuous Improvement Design Team.
David is a husband, father, feminist, Chicano, & twin who has two adult children and lives in Oakland with his wife, a kindergarten teacher.
Email: david.m@coredistricts.org
Lynn Rocha-Salazar
SENIOR IMPROVEMENT SPECIALIST
SENIOR IMPROVEMENT SPECIALIST | Lynn Rocha-Salazar
Most recently, Lynn has mentored teachers in continuous improvement efforts, developing and fostering partnerships with key stakeholders to address issues of equity and access in support of African American and Latino students. Lynn is credited with the development of specific enabling conditions that fostered the adoption of improvement principles. Lynn has been active in the Association of California School Administrators, serving in several capacities including Board President in Region 9. Lynn’s focus is to champion the work of improvement to disrupt the inequities that have historically persisted in our systems to improve the lives of the students we serve.
Email: lynn@coredistricts.org
Michelle Steagall
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, IMPROVEMENT CAPABILITY BUILDING
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CORE CAPABILITY BUILDING PROGRAMS | Michelle Steagall
As the Executive Director of CORE’s Capability Building Programs, Michelle Steagall is responsible for growing understanding and use of continuous improvement (Improvement Science) within CORE districts and partners. Michelle brings extensive school district experience to her work at CORE. She began her educational career as a multi-graded classroom teacher amidst thousands of acres of wheat fields in rural North Eastern Oregon.
In 1990, she moved to California to join the Clovis Unified School District family, where she served as a teacher, an assistant principal, in intermediate and elementary schools, an elementary principal and the associate superintendent, for curriculum and instruction. Additionally, Michelle served for 6 years as the superintendent of the Clay Joint Elementary School District and the Chowchilla School District, both located in the diverse heart of California, the San Joaquin Valley.
Michelle earned a Masters of Educational Administration from Fresno State, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of La Verne in Southern California. She is a licensed curriculum auditor. As a superintendent, she was selected and served on various state-wide committees with the California School Boards Association.
Email: michelle@coredistricts.org
