Associated Experts

Activities • Staff • Associated Experts • Board of Directors • Awards Given To and Recent Articles About CEP

Naomi Chudowsky, Consultant
Dr. Chudowsky researches and writes about educational testing. She has contributed to several Center reports, including High School Exit Exams: A Baseline Report, the TestTalk for Leaders series, and From the Capital to the Classroom: State and Federal Efforts to Implement the No Child Left Behind Act. Prior to becoming a consultant, she was a study director for the Board on Testing and Assessment of the National Research Council. She has also worked for the state of Connecticut and the U.S. Department of Education on the development of student assessments. Dr. Chudowsky has a B.A. in psychology from the University of California, San Diego and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from Stanford University.

Tom Fagan, Consultant
Mr. Fagan assisted CEP in researching and writing From the Capital to the Classroom: State and Federal Efforts to Implement the No Child Left Behind Act. Prior to his retirement from the U.S. Department of Education in 1998, Mr. Fagan served as Director of Goals 2000 and for several years was in charge of policy for Title I. He has also been a public school teacher and administrator. Mr. Fagan has master's degree in public administration from Harvard University and a doctorate in education from Columbia University.

Keith Gayler, Consultant
Mr. Gayler assists the Center with project research design and writing. He was the associate director at the Center from June 2002 to April 2005, and his major responsibility was to direct CEP's project on state high school exit examinations. Mr. Gayler was also formerly a research associate with Policy Studies Associates. He holds a master's degree in education from Harvard University, a master's degree from Stanford University in policy analysis, and a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Reed College.

Nancy L. Kober, Consultant
Ms. Kober assists the Center by researching, writing, editing, and co-authoring many CEP publications, including It Takes More Than Testing: Closing the Achievement Gap, School Vouchers: What We Know and Don't Know and How We Could Learn More, and Lessons From Other Countries About Private School Aid. She also provides advice to the Center about issues and agenda. She has served as a consultant for several education groups, including the Board on Testing and Assessment of the National Academy of Sciences. She teaches executive writing seminars at the Western Management Development Center, a federal government training center in Denver, and is the author of With Paintbrush and Shovel, a nonfiction book about a women's WPA project. From 1975 to 1987, she served as a legislative specialist for the House Committee on Education and Labor. Ms. Kober has a B.A. in English from Cornell University and an M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Virginia.

Elizabeth Pinkerton, Consultant
Ms.Pinkerton assists the Center in conducting case studies on the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act. Until recently, she was the director of state and federal programs for the Elk Grove Unified School District in Sacramento County, California. She has spent most of her educational career in Elk Grove, having been a teacher at elementary, middle school and high school, an elementary and high school vice principal and middle school principal. She is past president of the California Association of School Administrators of State and Federal Programs and the National Association of Federal Education Program Administrators. Ms. Pinkerton received her B.S. at Wisconsin State College in Superior, M.S. at California State University, Sacramento, and she also attended the Harvard Principal's Center.

Caitlin Scott, Consultant
Dr. Scott assists the Center in conducting case studies and writing reports about the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and Reading First, a federal program aimed at improving reading in the early grades. She researches and writes about education issues, particularly those relating to urban schools, teachers, and students. She began her career in education as a classroom teacher of students with mild disabilities, administered a public school tutoring program, and most recently worked as a staff writer for CATALYST-CLEVELAND, an education magazine covering Cleveland Municipal School District. Scott received her doctorate in education from Cleveland State University, an MT in education from the University of Virginia, and an MA in creative writing from the University of Florida. Her B.A. is in English and creative writing is from Oberlin College.