Education Task Force: Arizona Forum Panelist Biographies
Phoenix Panelist Bios
Fred Jones
Educational Consultant, Fredric H. Jones and Associates, Inc.
Dr. Fred Jones has studied highly successful teachers – the "naturals" – for over 35 years to learn how they make success look easy. During that time, he has conducted extensive research and constant experimentation in classrooms. His objective has been to perfect methods of classroom management that are both powerful and affordable teachers. Dr. Jones received his doctorate in clinical psychology from UCLA, specializing in work with schools and families. While on the faculty of the UCLA Medical Center, Dr. Jones developed methods of helping children with severe emotional disorders as head of the Child Experimental Ward of the Neuropsychiatric Institute. At that time, he also began pioneering research in classroom management in both regular and special classrooms. While on the faculty of the University of Rochester, Dr. Jones continued to develop the non-adversarial management procedures that were to become books titled Positive Classroom Discipline and Positive Classroom Instruction, both published by McGraw-Hill. Dr. Jones's most recent book, Tools for Teaching, offers an updated description of classroom management enriched by two decades of teacher training.
Ronald Marx
Dean, College of Education, The University of Arizona
Dr. Ronald Marx is Professor of Educational Psychology and Dean of the College of Education at the University of Arizona. His previous appointments were at Simon Fraser University and the University of Michigan, where he served as the Chair of the Educational Studies Program and later as the Co-Director of the Center for Highly Interactive Computing in Education and the Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools. His research focuses on how classrooms can be sites for fostering a type of learning that is highly motivated and cognitively engaging. Dr. Marx received his Ph.D. in educational psychology and child development from Stanford University.
Gaynor McCown
Executive Director, The Teaching Commission
Gaynor McCown is Executive Director of The Teaching Commission, a non-partisan organization dedicated to improving student performance by transforming the way in which America's public school teachers are prepared, recruited, retained, and rewarded. From 1998 to 2002, McCown was a Senior Vice President at Edison Schools. Before joining Edison, McCown was the Senior Vice President for Education and Workforce Development at the New York City Partnership and Chamber of Commerce. From 1994 to 1996, she served in the Clinton White House as a Senior Policy Analyst and Advisor, focusing on education and economic development. In 1993, she was selected as a White House Fellow and served as a Special Assistant to U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley. McCown was a public high school teacher in New York City from 1987 to 1993. She holds a bachelor's degree in government from St. Mary's Notre Dame, a master's degree in human development from Harvard University, and an MBA from Columbia University.
John Wright III
President, Arizona Education Association
John H. Wright III was elected the 87th President of the 30,000-member Arizona Education Association (AEA) in May 2004. Prior to that, Wright held a number of positions with the AEA, serving as Treasurer, Vice-President, local President, and as a member of the AEA Board of Directors. Wright also serves on several state boards. He is currently Vice Chairman of the Arizona State School Facilities Board, which oversees the implementation of Arizona's Students FIRST legislation. He is completing a two-year term as President of the Arizona Academic Decathlon Association and is President of the AEA Foundation for Teaching and Learning, which provides scholarships and grants to teachers and students. Recently, Wright was elected to the Executive Committee of the Arizona Business and Education Coalition. He began teaching in Connecticut in 1985 and taught elementary and middle school in the Window Rock Unified School District on the Navajo Nation. Wright holds bachelor's degrees in history and geography from the University of Washington and completed graduate studies in international educational development at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Steve Ybarra
Carl Hayden Community High School
Steve Ybarra is principal of Carl Hayden Community High School in Phoenix. Under Ybarra's leadership, CHCHS has gone from being an underperforming school to performing in accordance with both federal Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) and AZ LEARNS standards. The son of second-generation immigrants, Ybarra believes that all students, including those in low-income areas, can succeed, as long as they have a supportive administrative team, dedicated teachers and support staff, and involved parents. Before his time at CHCHS, he served for four years as a high-school principal in Superior, Arizona. Ybarra began his teaching career in the Chandler Unified School District, where he spent several years at both the middle school and the high school levels and served as a member of the Chandler Education Association's executive board. Ybarra earned his bachelor's degree in education from Arizona State University.
Thursday Evening Reception Program
Richard M. Ingersoll
Associate Professor of Education and Sociology, University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Richard Ingersoll is Associate Professor of Education and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Ingersoll obtained his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992, after teaching in both public and private secondary schools for a number of years. His research is concerned with the character of elementary and secondary schools as workplaces, teachers as employees, and teaching as a job. Dr. Ingersoll is a nationally recognized expert on the problems of underqualified teachers and teacher shortages. Dr. Ingersoll is the author of a book, Who Controls Teachers' Work? Power and Accountability in America's Schools, published by Harvard University Press in 2003.