Our Associates

With extensive classroom and consultation experience with education leaders, Anne uses her depth of knowledge and innovative mindset to help educators realize their own potential for positive impact in the classroom, and beyond.

Anne is the author and co-author of more than 30 books and multimedia resources, including the best seller, Making Classroom Assessment Work, now in its fourth edition. She has also published an abundance of chapters and articles, garnering high-profile accolades including the Hilroy Fellowship for outstanding innovation in education and a nomination for the Canadian Education Association’s Whitworth Research Award.

An experienced keynote speaker, Anne has also headed a variety of research projects and was proud to be named Canada’s Team Lead at the International Assessment Symposium in Fredericton, NB (2014). Her work has helped to shape provincial and national educational policy changes and she continues to be a highly sought-after resource for both government and private-sector educational institutions.

At the core of Anne’s learning philosophy is an obligation to honour everyone’s abilities and individual methods of expression. Assessment is not about who has ‘won the race’ – the task at hand is to empower learners, and educators, to effectively use their unique strengths.

These ideas inspire her to continue guiding our education systems, and the individuals responsible for helping learners of all kinds, towards attentive and pragmatic classroom assessment methods.

Just as it did when she was a classroom teacher, Brenda’s approach emphasizes that there is no single template for teaching or learning – there are many paths that lead to success. As such, she has spent her twenty-year tenure as a consultant focusing on being responsive to the needs and goals of those she works alongside, be they system or school leaders, teachers, or students. In recent years this has meant an intentional focus on working with students, teachers, and leaders online, dedicated to finding and refining new ways of working together while maintaining Brenda’s connection to the classroom, the venue in which she sees the greatest potential for positive change.

As an author, Brenda has most recently co-published Making Physical Education Instruction and Assessment Work (2017), Collecting Evidence and Portfolios: Engaging Students in Pedagogical Documentation (2017) and Making Writing Instruction Work (2015). She has also employed her writing skills in the service of clients, bringing assessment for learning strategies into units of study for a Mohawk Immersion program, guiding a group of literacy leaders to write a single point rubric designed to assess student writing and drive instruction, and most recently, creating a teacher professional growth plan using the principles of assessment in the service of learning as a guide.

An innate ability to put people at ease and instruct from a place of comfort and openness allow Brenda to effectively challenge assumptions through her presenting, coaching, and mentorship roles. Whether it’s a one-to-one coaching context, or facilitating a session for an audience of one hundred or more, her approach remains the same: What are you looking to achieve, and how can we plan pathways that will bring you there? Each and every session is custom designed for the learners Brenda is supporting.

Although Brenda’s roles in the realm of education are many, she will always identify as a ‘teacher’ in the classical sense: a practitioner with a dedication to influence and support students, teachers, and leaders – learners all.

Her teaching career of over 34 years has led Rita to many roles of leadership including lead teacher, department head, and Coordinator of Secondary programs at the system level. Working directly with teachers and in the classroom is where Rita finds her true inspiration.

In the classroom, Rita is always looking for ways to understand what every student needs to succeed and is passionate about finding ways for students to demonstrate their learning. Her goal as a classroom teacher is to always create an environment where students become passionate and motivated to keep learning regardless of the obstacles or challenges along the way.

Working with other teachers, Rita is able to understand the challenges that teachers face as Provincial and Board programs and priorities change. Rita can creatively work with system leaders and teachers to find ways to meet these challenges.

Rita is committed to equity and inclusion in education. In her contributions at the system level, Rita worked closely with leaders endeavoring to bring Equity, Mental Health and Indigenous studies to others in the system. Along the way, she collaborated on a toolkit for others to use to evaluate the resources used in the classroom using the lens of Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity. Alongside Mental Health leaders she worked to ensure that teachers had the resources needed to bring mental health programs into the classroom. Working with Indigenous Studies leaders, she brought teachers together to create resources used in the classroom.

Rita creates interactive and information rich professional development sessions which are tailored to the needs of teachers and system leaders. She is passionate about life-long learning and energizing teaching and creating safe and inclusive spaces for all to learn and grow.

In support of her ideas, Karen co-authored the book Making Physical Education Instruction and Assessment Work (2017) – a practical guide to applying the ‘big ideas’ of classroom assessment to the teaching of physical education.

At the centre of Karen’s philosophy is the recognition that the health of our society reflects the health of our future. She is dedicated to raising both its profile and the effectiveness with which it is taught and assessed.

Her work as a teacher, school principal, district leader, instructional coach and facilitator has focused on student learning and creating strong learning communities for everyone. She brings an energy to her work, collaborating with and supporting colleagues in realizing success in the service of student learning.

Linda’s leadership experiences, in a variety of roles in education, have provided her with the background to offer colleagues opportunities to create learning communities that support informed practice and enhanced student learning. Linda works alongside her colleagues, building relationships that foster a supportive working context by ensuring colleagues have ownership of their professional learning journey.

She has worked with school district leaders and in schools with teams of  leaders and teachers establishing their Assessment for Learning Plans. Linda has had many years of experience working as an Instructional Leadership coach/facilitator in schools and classrooms alongside school leaders and teachers. Linda grounds her work in Assessment for Learning guiding leaders to experience it in their leadership practice and teachers in their instructional practice.

Linda co-authored – “Powerful Assessment and Professional Practice – Instructional Talk Throughs” which captures  her work with colleagues using Assessment for Learning to ground and guide their leadership practice.

Working together with colleagues, asking and exploring ways to respond to the following questions with them…

Where are we at in our Assessment for Learning practice throughout our learning community?

Where do we want to go and grow in our Assessment for Learning journey?

How can we realize our Assessment for Learning goals together?

Linda successfully supports their professional learning with a goal to foster student voice, engagement and ownership of their learning. She has had the joy of working with colleagues in schools throughout Alberta, Nova Scotia, Singapore, and Norway and as a mentor to many colleagues as well. 

Students are at the heart and centre of her approach to learning and leading. She inspires leaders and teachers to come together as they embrace professional learning that will support, enhance and celebrate student learning.

His work has focused on assessment in the service of learning, data-driven instruction, and standards-based instruction, assessment, and grading. He has extensive experience in the classroom and in working with teachers and leaders in both elementary and high schools across the state of Hawaii and Miami-Dade county. John successfully supports teachers and school leaders to increase student engagement and align assessment practices to support student learning and achievement.