Our Staff
Vicki Griffo
Project Director
CALI Reads Coaches
Elizabeth Calleja
Northern California Regional Coach & Del Norte Site Coach
Elizabeth Calleja has spent the last twelve years passionately dedicated to cultivating a love of reading and driving strong reading outcomes for some of the most underserved young people in her community of Del Norte County. Her continued focus on reading instruction includes providing services to a wide range of students–kindergartners through adults–and has been delivered in both teaching and coaching roles. Elizabeth began her career as a first and second grade teacher serving students at a high poverty Native American reservation school; the role facilitated a strong foundation in the fundamentals of reading instruction. During her time as a fourth grade teacher, she expanded her experience to include effective intervention strategies for struggling readers, as well as building a reading community that highlights comprehension and reading to learn across content areas. Additionally, Elizabeth has taught in the alternative education system, encouraging deeply disconnected youth to discover a love of reading for the first time in their lives, and build reading skills rapidly through fostering authentic student motivation. Elizabeth was tapped to expand her service and impact through an Investing in Innovation Fund (I3) project via the U.S. Department of Education; she served as a Data Team Leader and Instructional Coach, building a culture of collaboration and data-driven decision-making in her district. As an Instructional Coach, Elizabeth worked with teachers across eight school sites, in grades kindergarten through eighth grade; as a Data Team Leader, she collaborated with district administration to co-design professional development, planning, and reflection practices that contributed to meaningful learning and success–for both teachers and the students they serve each day. Today, Elizabeth continues to both teach students each week, and find significant opportunities to invest deeply in system-wide approaches for inspiring all young people to learn and love to read.
Brittany Cufaude
Northern California Regional Coach
Brittany Cufaude taught and worked in district instructional leadership in the Folsom Cordova Unified School District. She devoted her teaching experience to Title 1 schools where she developed and coordinated literacy and ELD interventions. Throughout her time there, she focused on K-12 programs and collaborations, the CCSS and ELA/ELD Framework roll-outs, and building healthy school cultures through the PLC process. Her experience includes designing a district-wide literacy reform, establishing the district MTSS plan for ELA, and directing the 2014-2015 ELA program pilots and adoptions. In 2016, she left FCUSD to work in publishing as a national literacy consultant. In this capacity, she supported teachers and leaders in their effort to gain insight into the new literacy programs and how they dovetail with the nation’s mission to foster both highly rigorous and also equity-based classrooms. She now owns and operates a literacy consulting company and is thrilled to join the CALI Reads coaching team to help carry out its vision and mission.
Alexis Filippini
San Francisco Site Coach
Alexis Filippini, PhD leverages her expertise in literacy, behavior, and inclusion to provide strengths-based professional development, instructional and leadership coaching, and consultation. She has experience supporting complex learners in diverse roles, including bilingual (Spanish) reading teacher, researcher, behavioral clinician, professor of special education (San Francisco State University), executive director, and dean of teaching and learning. Dr. Filippini earned her PhD in special education with an emphasis in cognitive science from UC Santa Barbara. She also holds a BA in linguistics, an MA in special education, and an education specialist credential with autism and English Learner authorizations.
Lauren Greenberg
Bay Area Regional Coach
Lauren Greenberg, JD is the CALI Reads Regional Coach for the Bay Area region. A magna cum laude graduate of Brown University with a degree in comparative literature, Lauren received her J.D. degree at the University of California, Berkeley, and practiced law for several years prior to teaching English and history at the middle school and high school levels for nine years.
Lauren has worked as an educational consultant since 1998, providing professional development for thousands of teachers and administrators in proven literacy techniques to help struggling readers in grades K-12. She has supported teachers, administrators, and students in states from Florida to Alaska, and specializes in supporting high-impact schools with large populations of English learners and struggling readers. Lauren has been a contributing writer and developer of many literacy trainings and workshops, and was a contributing author of CORE’s vocabulary curriculum, Word Intelligence. Her expertise in vocabulary development across the curriculum extends to work with English learners at all grade levels, and Lauren is a frequent presenter at national literacy conferences. She has provided professional development and executive coaching under the auspices of federally funded IES research grant, at SIG grant schools, at districts chosen to be recipients of private foundation support, and, most recently, in two states participating in a Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) Grant administered by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform. Lauren has supported large-scale Word Intelligence implementations including a four-year project involving over 20 secondary schools in Clark County, NV using Word Intelligence as part of their Striving Readers Comprehensive Literacy grant. Her goal is to help each school or district implement its chosen literacy programs with fidelity and skill, and to provide teachers and administrators with the deep expertise they need to meet the challenges of today’s students.
Sonaleena Hargrove
Azusa Site Coach
Sonaleena Patnaik Hargrove, Ed.D. has completed numerous projects for school districts, charter schools, non-profit education organizations, and communities of parents. Dr. Hargrove began her teaching career in urban schools in Los Angeles, California, where she taught students of diverse linguistic, academic, and developmental backgrounds. She completed her B.S. in Education, M.S. Educational Psychology and Instructional Technology, and Doctorate in Educational Leadership at the University of Southern California. Her recent accomplishments include systems change in various K-12 schools, empowering parents to support student achievement at home, developing DISPTM for data-informed strategies to drive student achievement, navigating effective school budget and resource use practices, collaborating with school leaders and teachers to address challenges that improve student learning outcomes, and coaching teachers for multiple innovative and core instructional programs including a STEM program by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The scope of students and schools that she has worked with continue to become diverse and expand to include former refugee students, incarcerated youth, increased numbers of students with multiple disabilities, students impacted by high profile cases and PTSD, and students who have been historically marginalized by society.
Julie May
Siskiyou Site Coach
Julie May is a passionate teacher, coach, and learner. She has worked in education for 20+ years and finds joy teaching a variety of grade levels and age ranges, from 1st grade to adults. Julie began her career as a middle school English language arts teacher, working primarily with at-risk students. It was in that context that she discovered the power of providing high quality, equitable instruction to all students. Julie’s journey as an educator has since led her to Siskiyou County, where she most recently taught for the Mount Shasta Union School District. There she co-founded a multi-grade magnet school program, taught 3rd, 4th, and 6th grade, and served as the district technology coordinator. She currently works as an Educational Services Director for the Siskiyou County Office of Education and is thrilled to partner with CALI Reads to enhance literacy outcomes for students of northern California.
Melinda Pierson
Anaheim Site Coach
Melinda R. Pierson, Ph.D. serves as the Chair of the Department of Special Education and the Director of the Center for International Partnerships in Education at Cal State Fullerton where she has co-led students on inclusive study abroad programs as well as co-led an online international teacher training research project focusing on global awareness and cross-cultural understanding among educators from 10 countries. She has recently developed an online training network in Haiti to support teachers in orphanage schools. Dr. Pierson has written over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and state grants which focus on literacy, international teacher training, literacy, and resilience in children and adolescents around the world in addition to presenting hundreds of times to school districts as well as state, national, and international conferences.
Chantel Caldwell
West Contra Costa Site Coach
Chantel Caldwell is a zealous advocate for education equity who has supported diversity-rich student populations in the California Bay Area since 2002, currently as both a principal and instructional coach. Having worked primarily with underserved, vulnerable student groups and at-promise youth, she fervently supports teachers and teams in cultivating robust learning opportunities within safe, inclusive learning environments that are conducive to academic and social-emotional learning outcomes for all students. Chantel facilitates and supports teams to effectively implement evidence-based pedagogy, Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), and data inquiry protocols. In addition, she uses cognitive and didactical strategies to promote reflective instructional practices, promote continuous improvement, and foster collective teacher efficacy.
Tori Sanchez
Moreno Valley Site Coach
Tori Sanchez, Ph.D. has spent her career working to improve the literacy skills of students facing reading challenges. She has worked as a reading interventionist with elementary students and worked as a special educator at the middle school. Dr. Sanchez has worked with research teams to conduct research on evidence-based reading practices and has co-authored several publications with those teams. She currently works at UC Riverside with the CHAAOS vocabulary project helping to foster the vocabulary development of students with disabilities in the middle grades.
Karla Tice
Humboldt County Site Coach
Karla Tice has spent the last ten years working in the Fortuna Elementary School District. With a drive to improve the reading outcomes of struggling students, she has created and implemented a wide range of intervention programs and strategies. She has used effective teaching principles for student improvement in her teaching experience across elementary and middle school classrooms. For example, creating data driven decision teams and helping implement RTI models in schools. As a special education teacher, she has devoted herself to establishing powerful bonds with students and their families to help them reach their full potential. Karla believes that student success is created through meaningful relationships. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education, a Master of Arts in Teaching and Learning with an emphasis in Literacy, and an Education Specialist credential with English Language authorization. Her primary goal is to support schools in their implementation of effective literacy programs for all students.
Deborah Tucker
Benicia and Santa Rosa Site Coach
Deborah Tucker, Ed.D. has been a literacy coach on two of California Personnel Development Grants: Project READ and CALI Reads. She began her career in education as a middle school science and Title 1 teacher in Napa. Following, she worked with K-12 teachers in a statewide professional development initiative before working at the California Department of Education. With both science and reading credentials, her unique blend of concept-building activities grounded in cognitive and learning sciences allows learners to “make meaning” from experience and from text. Now as an independent consultant, she is excited to work with middle school teachers as they help their students become strategic readers.
Susan Van Zant
Southern California Regional Coach
Susan Van Zant served as an elementary and middle school principal for 27 years in the Poway Unified School District. During this time, she worked with teachers to present well-defined reading and math programs, which lead to increasingly high achievement scores. Three of these schools were recognized as National Blue Ribbon Schools and four were identified as California Distinguished Schools. Susan taught leadership courses for two universities in San Diego and served as the president of the San Diego Association of School Administrators. She also served as the president of the California Elementary Principals Association, and served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Elementary and Middle School Principals. In recognition for these achievements, Susan was selected as a National Distinguished Principal and is a Milken Award recipient. As a coach, her knowledge of core reading programs and supplementary programs combined with experience working with populations of English learners helps to ensure that student achievement levels improve.
Shelia Wells
Southern California Regional Coach
Shelia Wells is a master educator with a passion for all aspects of literacy which includes reading, writing and communication. Over the past 30 years in education, she has served as a teacher, Literacy Coach and Reading Consultant throughout North America. She began her career in Teach For America in California and the Mississippi Delta. Shelia furthered her teaching career in the Compton Unified School District as an elementary and secondary teacher where she became the first Language Arts and Math Curriculum Specialist in the district to support K-12 teachers in myriad aspects of classroom instruction and assessments. Over the past 15 years, Shelia moved from teaching to consulting with various Educational Companies. She has worked as a Senior Trainer, Coach and Implementation Manager assisting K-12 schools with: a) Approaches to assessing reading and mathematics via screening, progress monitoring, and summative assessments, b) Facilitated trainings in classrooms with students, teachers, coaches, and instructional assistants on effective delivery of research-based instructional strategies such as Direct Instruction, Differentiated Learning, Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English, Process Writing, and Reciprocal Teaching, and c) Utilizing researched based “In The Cloud” reading and writing resources as Multi-tiered Systems of Support.
Literacy Experts
CALI Reads collaborates with several literacy experts to develop literacy training and materials.
Iowa Reading Research Center
Dr. Deborah Reed
Director, Iowa Reading Research Center
deborah-reed@uiowa.edu
Deborah K. Reed spent the first 10 years of her career as an English language arts and reading teacher as well as a reading specialist, working primarily with students exhibiting serious reading difficulties. Since 2003, she has been a researcher and technical assistance provider in numerous states. In 2015, Dr. Reed became the director of the Iowa Reading Research Center and joined the faculty of the University of Iowa College of Education. She has published extensively and continues to research methods for improving reading instruction and assessment, particularly for vulnerable populations.
California State University, Northridge
Dr. Vanessa A. Goodwin
Professor, CSU Northridge
vanessa.goodwin@csun.edu
Vanessa Goodwin has spent much of her career working with adolescent struggling readers both as a special education teacher and program specialist. Dr. Goodwin serves as Co-Director of the Special Education Literacy Clinic in the Teaching, Learning and Counseling Consortium (TLCC) at CSUN. Dr. Goodwin also conducts research on evidence-based reading intervention in secondary settings and has presented at conferences and schools across the nation. Dr. Goodwin has authored several publications about K-12 reading pedagogy, teacher dispositions, and the use of technology with struggling readers. Dr. Goodwin teaches beginning and intermediate courses at CSUN for the Preliminary Education Specialist program and the Induction Program.
Dr. Sue Sears
Professor, CSU Northridge
sue.sears@csun.edu
Sue Sears has taught and supervised the teaching of students with learning disabilities, behavioral challenges, and developmental differences. Dr. Sears has co-directed federally funded personnel preparation grants and a state-funded project supporting an alternative certification program. Dr. Sears served on the Integrated Teacher Education Program (ITEP) Task Force, and continues involvement with this program as a member of the ITEP/Liberal Studies Interdisciplinary Program Committee. Dr. Sears is a Director in the Teaching, Learning, Counseling Consortium, a multi-disciplinary group of college faculty, and in this role oversees on-campus literacy tutoring activities. Dr. Sears’s research and writing focus on the areas of teacher education and literacy and she has presented extensively on the benefits and challenges of alternative certification programs.
Lindsay Young
Reading Intervention Teacher, LA Unified School District; Adjunct Faculty, CSU Northridge
lindsay.young@lausd.net
Lindsay Young is a National Board Certified teacher for LAUSD and provides intensive reading intervention to students who receive special education services. Lindsay is a national presenter and the author of several teacher activity books and articles including Help Your Students Meet and Exceed Your State Standards for Reading (Grades 6-12) and Directed Reading and Thinking Activities. Young has been featured on The Teaching Channel, and in 2015 the California League of High Schools named her an Educator of the Year. She is a part-time faculty member at California State University, Northridge, and a doctoral student at University of Florida.
California Department of Education Partners
Dr. Theresa Costa Johansen
Dr. Theresa Costa Johansen is an Education Administrator in the Special Education Division at the California Department of Education. In her role, Dr. Johansen coordinates specialized contracts in support of California Districts with the provision of Special Education services. Accordingly, she has served for the past several years as the SPDG Director for Project READ and now the CALI Reads project. In addition, Dr. Johansen was instrumental in leading the California’s Dyslexia Work Group in their formation of the Dyslexia Guidelines. She comes to this role with experience across the board in classroom teaching, and school and district level administration. Additional areas of expertise include: curriculum and instruction, educational leadership and improving student achievement outcomes.
Mr. Richard Gifford
Mr. Richard Gifford serves as an Education Programs Consultant for California Department of Education (CDE), Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources Division. In this role, Mr. Gifford specializes in developing and supporting dyslexia policy and programs, and to this end, served as a consultant to CDE in the design of the Dyslexia Guidelines. During his career in education he has provided reading instruction to middle school students with dyslexia and coordinated reading interventions for special education students while working with the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. He has also worked with the Success for All Foundation, developing reading curricula and technology for struggling readers.
Office of special Education
U.S. Department of Education
CALI Reads is a State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG) awarded from the Office of Special Education (OSEP), U.S. Department of Education. The SPDG program provides competitively awarded grants to help state educational agencies (SEAs) reform and improve their systems for personnel preparation and professional development of individuals providing early intervention, educational, and transition services to improve results for children with disabilities.
SPDG funds are awarded to the California Department of Education, Special Education Division and coordinated and administered in partnership with the Napa County Office of Education.