August 5, 2010 Webinar

Improving Outcomes and Cutting Costs With Technology:
Models for Success From Project RED

Speaker Biographies

Calvin Baker
Superintendent, Vail School District
Tucson, Arizona
Calvin Baker is the superintendent of the Vail School District, in and beyond Tucson, Arizona. For the fourth straight year all fourteen of the District’s regular elementary, middle, and high schools in the Vail District are rated as “Excelling” by the Arizona Department of Education. The rating is the highest of six possible rating levels and is based on student test scores, graduation rates, and other performance indicators. The District’s schools and staff have received numerous awards. This past year, for example, three more of the Districts schools received the coveted “A+” rating from the Arizona Education Foundation.

The District is a recognized leader in areas such as standards-based instruction, Response to Intervention, and the use of technology. Cal and/or his staff have presented on these issues at conferences across the United States, as well as Europe and Jamaica.

In 2005, the District was the first to open a school fully utilizing digital instructional material — substituting laptops for textbooks. The District has also implemented a system, called “Beyond Textbooks,” that puts calendared instructional standards in a digital format. The standards are then electronically linked directly to digital instructional resources that teachers can use, share, and develop. The District provides other districts in Arizona fee-based access to the use of Beyond Textbooks. Thus far, sixteen other school districts have joined.

Cal has been the superintendent in Vail for 22 years. During his tenure, student enrollment has grown from 500 students in one school to over 10,000 students in seventeen regular and charter schools. Cal also has ten years of experience as a principal and in that role has served at all three levels: high, middle, and elementary school. Almost all of his principal experience occurred in small Native American communities in Northern Alaska.

Cal is active in community and educational organizations. He is currently the president of the Arizona School Administrator’s Association and past-president of that organization’s superintendents division.

Bill Hamilton
Superintendent, Walled Lake Consolidated Schools
Walled Lake, Michigan
Dr. Hamilton is currently on the Board of Directors for the One-to-One Institute, bringing first hand knowledge as an administrator who implemented a One-to-One program, Anytime Anywhere Learning, into Walled Lake Schools. Dr. Hamilton is Superintendent of Walled Lake Consolidated Schools, the largest school district in Oakland County, Michigan. With approximately 15,600 students, Walled Lake has seen dramatic growth since the mid-eighties. All schools are NCA accredited and the district has seen dramatic improvement in its state test scores as a result of major curriculum changes driven by the district’s strategic plan, including common metric assessments and technology integration.

Before becoming Superintendent, Dr. Hamilton was Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, K-12 at Walled Lake Schools. As Assistant Superintendent, Dr. Hamilton’s primary responsibilities included the design and implementation of all K-12 curriculum, instruction, and assessment including the ongoing development of Professional Learning Communities in all K-12 buildings. He was also responsible for all district technology including infrastructure, curriculum integration, and K-12 staff development. Dr. Hamilton was directly involved in many innovative programs, including, creation of an alternative high school, a computer leasing program, Reading Recovery program, Anytime Anywhere Learning laptop program, teacher evaluation model, and a district wide instructional accountability assessment system.

Dr. Hamilton has over 38 years of experience with Michigan schools and education. He has held positions as an English and Social Studies Teacher, Coordinator for Placement and Follow-up Services, CTE Coordinator, High School Assistant Principal, Director of Instructional Services, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Technology, and Superintendent.

Bill can be reached at 248-956-2010 or williamhamilton@wlcsd.org.

Jeanne Hayes
President, The Hayes Connection
Cofounder, Project RED Initiative
In 2005, Jeanne Hayes established The Hayes Connection to consult with both established and start-up education market companies and school districts. Hayes‘ 30 years of strategic insights gained from building a business, creating databases, analyzing market trends and helping clients market to schools enable her to connect her clients to the education market.

Prior to The Hayes Connection, Hayes founded Quality Education Data, (QED) in 1981. Her vision was to create the highest-quality education database possible. To grow the business, she established a marketing research division in the early ‘90s and later expanded the database through QED's National Registry of Teachers™. After facilitating the sale of QED to Scholastic Inc. in 1999, she served as VP of Marketing Development at Scholastic through 2004.

A former educator and debate coach, Hayes has testified before congress and speaks at conferences nationwide about instructional technology and other education market trends. With her co-author, Tom Greaves, she has researched and written America’s Digital Schools 2006 and America’s Digital Schools 2008, both of which look at ed tech trends. She has presented findings from these reports at numerous webinars and conferences to both educators and publishers.

Hayes served as one of the founding members of the CEO Forum on Education and Technology, as well as a corporate member and treasurer of the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN), and as a board member of the Education Section of the Software Information Industry Association (SIIA). Hayes was recognized as CoSN’s Private Sector Champion for 2002, as well as Converge Magazine’s ‘Those Who Make a Difference 2000’ and the eSchool News’ Impact 30 for 2001. In 2002, she was inducted into the Association of Educational Publishers’ Hall of Fame. In 2005, she received the ‘Making It Happen’ award presented by the Ladies in Pink Jackets. Currently, Hayes is past president and remains a member of the Board of Directors of Creating Caring Communities, a Denver-based nonprofit focused on making schools safe through the creation of positive models and the elimination of bullying.

Jeanne can be reached at 720-922-8676 or jhayes@hayesconnection.com.