The Communities for Learning staff

The staff is committed to supporting, developing and sustaining the work and learning of Communities for Learning programs and sites.

Giselle O. Martin-KniepGiselle O. Martin-Kniep
President
Giselle Martin-Kniep is the President and Founder of Communities for Learning: Leading Lasting Change® and of Learner-Centered Initiatives, Ltd. She is the co-developer of the ARCS Framework.

Giselle has a strong background in organizational change and has graduate degrees in communication and development, social sciences in education, and educational evaluation from Stanford University. She has worked with thousands of schools nationally and internationally in the areas of standards, curriculum and assessment, adult learning, organizational development, school improvement, and action research.

Giselle has supported the development and writing of close to fifty curriculum units, action research studies, articles, and courses of study. She has also written extensively. Her books include Becoming a Better Teacher: Eight Innovations that Work, Why am I Doing This?; Capturing the Wisdom of Practice; Developing Learning Communities Through Teacher Expertise; Supporting Mathematical Learning; and Communities that Learn, Lead and Last. Her new book with Joanne Picone-Zocchia is entitled Changing the Way You Teach, Improving the Way Students Learn.


Joanne Picone-Zocchia: Joanne Picone-Zocchia is the Vice-president of Communities for Learning: Leading lasting change® and Learner-Centered Initiatives, Ltd.  Her work includes school, district, regional and statewide programs in leadership development, strategic planning, curriculum and assessment design, visioning, restructuring and organizational development. A co-developer of the ARCS Framework, Joanne is a primary trainer and certifier of ARCS facilitators.

Joanne is actively engaged in exploring connections between systems thinking skills and processes and issues of systemic educational reform, and is committed to a focus on sustainable improvement. An educator herself for twenty-two years, her background includes elementary, middle, secondary and special education.

Joanne is a published curriculum designer, has co-authored the article, “Using Curriculum and Gap Analysis Maps to Assess What Teachers Do,” and is the primary author of the book Supporting Mathematical Learning: Effective Instruction, Assessment and Student Activities, K-5, published by Jossey-Bass. Her latest book, Changing the Way You Teach, Improving the Way Students Learn , co-authored with Giselle Martin-Kniep, was published by ASCD in May 2009.

Diane Cunningham facilitates long-term staff development programs related to standards-based curriculum, instruction and assessment, as well as various school and district initiatives designed to build organizational capacity to operate as learning communities. Ms. Cunningham is the Director of Consultant Support for Learner-Centered Initiatives, Ltd. and the Director of Program and Facilitation Support for Communities for Learning: Leading lasting change®. A strong advocate of collegial inquiry and action research, she has developed expertise in guiding educators through the process of planning and carrying out collaborative and individual inquiry that is rigorous and grounded in classroom practices.


Ms. Cunningham has published some of her work related to portfolios and action research in Why Am I Doing This: Purposeful Teaching Through Portfolio Assessment, and Becoming a Better Teacher Eight Innovations that Work, both books written by Giselle Martin-Kniep and published by ASCD. She is currently completing a book on designing and implementing rigorous collegial inquiry. Ms. Cunningham has a background in elementary education and reading education as well as a Masters Degree in Writing from Northeastern University. She is currently a doctoral student at Hofstra University.

 

Margie McGuire
Office Manager

Margie brings more than 20 years experience with not for profit and for profit communities. She supports the organization with travel arrangements, research, personal and executive support services, event planning and office and data management.

 

Marianne Mueller
Accounting

Marianne supports  and manages the accounting and bookkeeping side of the organization. She has a great deal of expertise in account management and managing the flow of contracts in and out of the office.