Executive Director, CORE Capability Building Programs
Michelle Steagall
Office Manager
Whitney Stormberg
Data Strategist
LaToya Bufford
LaToya serves as a Data Strategist for CORE’s Data Collaborative team. LaToya is the intermediary between CORE’s analytical partners (Education Analytics) and CORE’s school system partners. Additionally, LaToya helps manage the day to day operations of the CORE Data Collaborative which includes recognizing partner needs and opportunities, streamlining communications and identify data and reporting solutions. LaToya has experience with student testing administration projects, reporting projects, and program evaluations. LaToya is familiar with state and federal accountability and testing requirements for California school districts. In addition, LaToya has worked directly with the research staff, district administrators, technical support staff and teachers on a variety of data and research-related projects. LaToya has hands-on experience when it comes to coordinating data processing functions, assessment administrations, survey projects, and the facilitation of trainings for district administrators. LaToya received her bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles and has a Master’s in Business Administration. LaToya currently resides in her hometown, Sacramento, with her husband and five children. Her goal is to provide support to schools and districts by helping to improve access to comprehensive, reliable and usable research that ultimately provides a basis for improving student outcomes and student success.
As a CORE Senior Data Strategist, 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.
Tanira Chau (she/her/hers) serves as the Program Associate for CORE’s Data Collaborative. She supports data system operations, coordinates program logistics, and helps maintain CORE’s information management systems and databases. She strives to advance educational equity through sustainable structural change and development. Prior to CORE, Tanira served as a program and project management coordinator for various nonprofit organizations geared towards social justice and equity.
Tanira cultivated a passion for educational equity and social justice through early grassroots and community organizing efforts in inner-city LA. She earned a B.A. in Psychology and minor in Education from the University of California, Berkeley where she was involved in student-led recruitment and retention efforts. As a proud first-generation graduate and professional, she hopes to continue advancing structural change which uplifts and benefits all students.
Juli Coleman has worked in public education for 27 years, which has spanned across K-12, regular and special education. She began her career as an elementary teacher in the Menifee Union School District. Juli moved to the Oceanside Unified School District and worked in a variety of roles and schools. She was a Resource Specialist at an elementary school, Teacher on Special Assignment at a middle school, and a Coordinator at the high school. She has worked at the San Diego County Office of Education as an Executive Leadership Coach for the past 7 years, where she has worked closely with districts through out the County helping to plan their improvement efforts. She also serves as the regional lead for Imperial, San Diego, and Orange County for the statewide regional system of support (RSDSS) that provides assistance to Title I funded schools. Juli has her Master of Special Education, Doctorate in Educational Leadership, and recently completed the Institute of Healthcare Improvement coaching program. She lives in Carlsbad with her husband and they have six kids, a dog and one cat.
Alyssa Galloway serves as the Program Associate for CORE Districts’ Improvement Team. In her role she manages contact and user databases for the organization; plans and coordinates logistical support for program events; analyzes meeting survey data; is responsible for event communications; supports tracking of event expenses, amongst other duties, Alyssa also manages the calendar and booking needs for the improvement team.
Prior to working at CORE Districts, Alyssa worked at the Small School Districts’ Association as a Marketing Coordinator, serving small public and charter schools throughout state of California. Alyssa graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with her degree in Sociology and Journalism with a focus in community development.
Her passion for education comes from working alongside school officials whose passion for improving their schools starts with improving their students and highlighting the importance of education equality to do so.
Email:alyssa@coredistricts.org
Senior Program Manager
Brandon Giles
Brandon is the Senior Program Manager for CORE’s improvement communities and CORE capability building programs. Prior to joining CORE, Brandon led the implementation of City Year’s Whole School Whole Child program at a South Central Los Angeles USD middle school. Working with educators, he supervised teams of AmeriCorps members serving as tutors, mentors and role models for hundreds of students. Brandon also helped to develop and implement an affinity group for Latino and African American AmeriCorps members that provided Professional development throughout the year as well as a staff mentor.
Brandon’s passion for education comes from his background. He grew up similar to the ways some of the students we serve at CORE do. He wants to help do his part in education equality and excited to be doing that work with CORE.
CORE’s Communications Lead brings nearly 15 years of experience in communications, strategy development, media relations, and partnership building for nonprofits, foundations, government entities, and corporations. Jasper is an expert in developing engagement strategies and manages effective media and communication efforts that effectively navigate social justice and advocacy.
A diversity subject matter expert who leads through service, James is a Co-Founder of Activism Articulated, one of the only public relations firms in the nation run by queer, mixed-race women of color. They founded an active Facebook group for Allies of Black Lives Matter with thousands of followers, which is dedicated to discussion and education centered on racial justice.
Having earned a degree in audio engineering and holistic theology, Jasper James is a talented digital campaign rapid response strategist who holds strong public relations and project management skills and has served as a diversity, equity, and inclusion advisor for national public service candidates as well as a member of the ACLU Sacramento Chapter, Sacramento Black Chamber of Commerce, and other civic and advocacy organizations.
Senior Improvement Coach
Marissa Kalu-Thompson
As a CORE Senior Improvement Coach, Marissa Kalu-Thompson is responsible for supporting school districts in equity-based reform initiatives and continuous improvement efforts to support districts and schools “get better at getting better.” Marissa brings 20 years of teaching, instructional coaching and educational leadership to her work at CORE. Her educational career began in Toronto, Canada, as a 4th and 5th grade teacher. During her career in education, Marissa has had the opportunity to hold several roles in service of students, teachers, and community members. She has worked as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, assistant-principal, and principal in both elementary and middle schools. Striving for full equity and academic excellence for students who have been historically underserved and under-valued has been and continues to be at the center of her work. Marissa earned her Masters of Education in Curriculum, Teaching & Learning from the University of Toronto/OISE, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership (that researched Emotional Intelligence and K-5 Leadership) from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. In addition, Marissa holds certifications in educational leadership from the School Leader Institute at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, Improvement Science Coaching from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Boston, Massachusetts, and Georgia P-12 Clear Renewable licenses in Elementary Education, ESOL and Educational Leadership.
Doug is a coach for site and district improvement teams in Southern California. Most recently Doug served as a high school principal in Oceanside USD, where he is credited for supporting a culture of risk and reflection and building the capabilities of teachers to use data for improvement. He has more than a decade of site and district leadership experience, purposefully creating systems where teachers empower and energize students. Doug lives in Oceanside.
Brandi Lites servers as the Project 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.
At CORE, Brigitte serves as the Chief of Staff. Originally from England, in 1991 Brigitte followed Southeast Asian refugees from the Thai refugee camps where she worked as a teacher and teacher-trainer, to California’s Central Valley. A one-year plan to gain a deeper understanding of the resettlement challenges confronted by refugee families, has turned into a 29-year odyssey of work in public sector systems, including social services and education. Brigitte has worked as a teacher, Principal, 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 articles, English as a Second Language training materials and textbooks, and worked as an editor of language development 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 prioritize development of relationally healthy public service organizations where people can excel and do their best work in service of the public good. Relationally healthy organizations create intentional structures of authentic, engagement designed to sustain high quality professional relationships. This includes practices that reduce unproductive conflict, and restorative practices when conflict has occurred.
With almost thirty years of experience in supporting the development and growth of public service professionals, Brigitte is uniquely positioned to assist organizations that are genuinely committed to bringing out the best in their employees. Skilled in the development and delivery of a wide range of strategies designed to build and sustain relational capacity, Brigitte’s strongest areas of professional practice are facilitation, training, coaching and constituent engagement – particularly in challenging situations of transition and conflict.
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, where she is preparing to launch her youngest of three, publicly educated children.
As the CORE Data and Improvement Strategist, Morgan Matthews is our lead for Program Measurement and the Improvement Management System, CORE’s online platform for teams to collaborate and conduct their improvement work. Prior to joining CORE, Morgan served as an education policy analyst in San Francisco USD. In San Francisco she supported district and county high school site leaders in using data, facilitating data-based discussions, and leveraging equity-centered design thinking and improvement science processes. Morgan holds a B.A. in Economics from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon and a Master of Public Policy from UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. She has four years of experience coaching school site administrators and a passion for building bridges between research, technical, and practitioner audiences. Morgan lives in Oakland.
Amanda Meyer serves the CORE districts as Director of Improvement, supporting educators in their efforts to solve important problems of practice. Prior to joining CORE, Amanda was an improvement science specialist at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, where she apprenticed with leading thinkers in systemic educational change and quality improvement. Over four years at Carnegie, she provided improvement science coaching to a variety of organizations and networks in K-12 and higher education. She managed the development of improvement methods sessions for the annual Summit on Improvement in Education, and delivered improvement science learning experiences in conference, workshop, and online settings. Amanda is particularly interested in the intersection of improvement, design, and equity work.
Amanda began her career in the classroom, teaching English as a Second Language at Sidney Lanier High School in San Antonio, Texas. She holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies, Spanish, and Educational Studies from Washington University in St. Louis. In addition to her professional roles, she has taught English language arts courses for a college access program in San Francisco and volunteers as a mentor for first-generation college students. Amanda currently resides in the Bay Area.
Rick Miller serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the CORE districts. Prior to joining CORE, Miller was the Deputy State Superintendent for P-16 Policy and Information Branch of the California Department of Education. In this position, Miller 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 California Department of Education, Miller worked at Microsoft Corporation developing communications strategies on privacy, security, and overall corporate image. Miller also served as a strategic communications advisor to the Chancellor of the California State University System (CSU). Prior to working at CSU, Miller served the U.S. Department of Education in Washington D.C. as Press Secretary to Richard W. Riley, Secretary of Education in the Clinton Administration. Miller 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. Miller lives in Rocklin, California with his wife, Julie, an elementary school speech therapist and their two sons. He was elected to the Rocklin Unified School board in 2018 where he currently serves as President.
David Montes de Oca has been working in education for twenty-five years, beginning as a teaching assistant, a teacher in Los Angeles, Santa Cruz and later joining Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) as a teacher.
During his time with the district, David also worked as the School Design Lead for new incubating secondary schools in the OUSD’s New School Development Group. Following the redesign of over a dozen schools over two years, David was recruited to design and direct a new Office of Charter Schools for OUSD to better oversee its 32 charter schools in Oakland. This lead to his position as the Executive Director of Quality Community School Development, establishing School Quality Standards, a School Quality Review process and co-constructing a Balanced Scorecard. Simultaneously he worked as adjunct faculty at Cal State East Bay’s Educational Leader department and as a member of the Lead Team for the State University of New York’s School Quality Review process.
Upon his appointment to the position of OUSD’s Associate Superintendent of Quality, Accountability and Analytics, the district transitioned to using online data dashboards, district-wide Cycles of Inquiry, and renewing school transformation & turnaround processes. For the past three years David has worked as the Senior Deputy Chief of Continuous School Improvement. In this role, David oversaw the implementation of a School Performance Framework (SPF) designed to establish a tiered system of differentiated supports to achieve equitable outcomes across all Oakland schools. His division also oversaw the Office of Charter Schools; the District’s data-driven Continuous School Improvement processes, as well as the newly envisioned Call for Quality Schools process to assist school communities in transforming the District’s persistently underperforming schools.
David lives in Oakland with his wife, an Oakland Kindergarten teacher, along with their two children who attend Oakland Public Schools.
Brenda Paredes currently serves as Director of Operations for CORE Districts. Prior to joining CORE, Brenda worked as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Accountant of an accounting firm that specializes in non-profit organizations. In this role, Brenda provided financial consulting services to various large scale non-profit organizations involved in higher education, poverty alleviation, and child development. She has experience in finance, operations management, human resources, and also has a background in education. Her love for non-profit organizations and education developed over ten years ago, when she helped manage a Title I charter school in Sacramento.
Brenda’s work at the school led her to earn a Master of Arts degree in Instructional Communication at California State University, Sacramento where she wrote her thesis on educational policy for English Language Learners. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication, a certification in Dropout Prevention, a bookkeeping certification, and is in the process of obtaining a certification in Project Management.
Brenda is passionate about community improvement, and her goal is to continue to work towards promoting an equitable educational environment for all students. As a first-generation immigrant, she understands the pressing need for student support at all levels. Brenda is fluent in Spanish.
Gina serves as a Senior Improvement Coach and works with teams of educators to drive innovation and gather evidence for effective practices in the 9th grade and beyond. Gina is a student and practitioner of Continuous Improvement and Design Thinking and uses tools and methods from these approaches to drive lasting system and program changes. Gina is driven by unearthing and disseminating the wisdom and talent teachers bring to their classrooms every day.
Gina holds a BA in Psychology from UC Davis, a Master’s Degree in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley and has completed advanced coursework in Design Thinking and Continuous Improvement.
Lynn Rocha-Salazar serves as Senior Improvement Coach. In her role, Lynn is responsible for supporting school districts in equity-based reform initiatives and continuous improvement efforts. Lynn brings 30 years of education experience to her role with CORE. Her career in education includes serving as a classroom teacher, Resource Teacher, Program Manager, Vice-Principal on Special Assignment and Principal. As a site leader, she has been directly involved in developing an aligned instructional system based on the Common Core State Standards and championing the needs of Special Education students in the regional program at Ayer Elementary. 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.
Executive Director, CORE Capability Building Programs
Michelle Steagall
As the Executive Director of CORE’s Capability Building Programs, Michelle Steagall is responsible for bridging the work to support the implementation of Common Core Standards and promoting teacher and principal effectiveness across the eight CORE partner districts. Michelle brings 23 years of 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, assistant principal in intermediate and elementary schools, an elementary principal and the associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction. Additionally, Michelle served for six 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 in Educational Administration from Fresno State, a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of La Verne in Southern California and is a licensed curriculum auditor. As a superintendent she was selected and served on various state wide committees with the California School Boards Association.
Whitney Stormberg currently serves as a Office Manager for CORE Districts. In this role, she provides on-site liaison support between school site staff, district strategists and CORE’s Improvement Coaches; is responsible for the back end maintenance of CORE’s website; manages CORE’s insurance with clients and partners, amongst other duties she manages other ongoing needs for the nonprofit organization and all remote staff.
Previously, Whitney managed constituent affairs and performed event brief research for Governor Gavin Newsom while he was Lieutenant Governor of California. With a degree in International Relations and minor in Business Admin from Carroll College, she has continuously paired her interest in foreign affairs with her passion for service work. Within the past five years she has traveled and worked with Engineers Without Borders and various private entities; meeting, serving and developing friendships with those she has encountered both nationally and internationally. With a passion for public service, Whitney plans to always be a part of an organization whose mission is to improve the surrounding community.
