2024 QTEL SUMMER INSTITUTES
SERVICES | EDUCATOR LEARNING | INSTITUTES | SUMMER INSTITUTES | KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
2024 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Annette Gregg
Annette Gregg is the Director of English Learner and Migrant Education Services (ELMES) at WestEd. She works collaboratively with schools, districts, and state agencies to help build the capacity of educators and the systems in which they work to change outcomes for English and Multilingual Learners. She partners with leaders to engage in systemic improvement planning that will enhance educational programs and build upon the rich cultural and linguistic assets English Learners bring with them to school. Her areas of expertise include English Learner education, systemic improvement planning, organizational development, and program evaluation.
Gregg leads teams that offer targeted, customized supports to address the needs of English and Multilingual Learners. She has an extensive history of working with state departments and districts to build the capacity of educators to shift policies and instructional practices in ways that address the diverse needs of English Learners. Her work includes developing and delivering professional learning sessions and engaging teams in strategic planning.
Gregg has an EdM in education policy and management from Harvard University, an MA in education from the University of California, Berkeley; and BA in Spanish literature from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a minor in applied developmental psychology.
Haiwen Chu
Haiwen Chu is a Senior Research Associate in WestEd's Quality Teaching for English Learners initiative. Dr. Chu specializes in secondary mathematics education. He designs educative curriculum materials that expand the expertise of mathematics teachers to support their English Learners in simultaneously developing conceptual, analytic, and linguistic practices through participation in classroom lessons characterized by quality interactions.
In his research and development work, Dr. Chu draws upon his extensive experience as a mathematics teacher for recently-arrived immigrants and English Learners. He has worked in varied teaching and research roles for the City University of New York, including a Research Fellow for Latino demographics and an adjunct lecturer in mathematics education. Dr. Chu has expertise in mixed methods research design, classroom observations, longitudinal data analysis, and What Works Clearinghouse standards.
Dr. Chu presents widely at conferences focused on research and practice. He serves as a co-Principal Investigator for the National Research and Development Center to Improve Education for Secondary English Learners at WestEd, funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (R305C200008).
Mary Schmida
Mary Schmida is a Senior Research Associate with the Quality Teaching for English Learners initiative at WestEd. In this capacity, her areas of expertise and responsibilities include researching and designing exemplar literacy curricula around the Common Core State Standards that integrate quality student interactions, academic discourse, and high challenge/high support for all students.
Dr. Schmida creates and provides teacher professional development for both teachers and administrators across the country. In addition to professional development, she coaches teachers in the creation and implementation of dynamic, interesting, and novel literacy-focused lesson plans that incorporate student collaboration and quality interactions.
Schmida is a co-principal investigator for a study with the National Research and Development Center to Improve Education for Secondary English Learners, funded by the Institute of Education Sciences. In this capacity, Schmida is writing units for 8th grade English Learners that support their analytic, conceptual, and linguistic understandings and is designing teacher educative materials to support their theoretical understandings and implementation of the units in their classrooms.
Previously, Dr. Schmida was an instructor at UC Berkeley and a TEFL Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa. During a two-year hiatus from WestEd, Dr. Schmida was the Dean of Academics at a public middle school in Richmond, California. Her duties included curriculum selection and development, creation and implementation of a school-wide literacy program, ELD program, school-wide professional development, supervision and coaching of teachers, and administrative duties. In addition to working in this administrative capacity, she also taught 6th and 7th grade ELD and reading.
