Dr. Carol F. Thomas/Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Carol Thomas is responsible for the overall planning, coordination, and management of Education Northwest. Prior to becoming the CEO in 2001, Thomas served as associate executive director of Education Northwest and supervised the directors of the organization’s 12 programs. Before coming to Education Northwest, Thomas held leadership positions at several other educational laboratories throughout the United States: the Southwest Regional Laboratory, the Midwest Regional Exchange, the Center for the Study of Evaluation at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development. Thomas received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and has more than 30 years of experience in education.
Phone: 503.275.9501

Steve Fleischman/Deputy Executive Officer

Steve Fleischman oversees the programmatic work of Education Northwest through direct supervision of the directors of its four Centers of Excellence. In addition, he facilitates the work of both the Executive Cabinet and the Management Council, the two top management structures within the organization. Before assuming the DEO position, Fleischman served as vice president of the American Institutes for Research (AIR), where he created and led a number of U.S. Department of Education-funded school improvement projects such as the Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center, the Supplemental Educational Services Quality Center, and the Scientific Evidence in Education Forums. He also provided senior leadership for AIR's National High School Center, What Works Clearinghouse, Doing What Works, and several Regional Educational Laboratory and National Science Foundation projects. Fleischman began his nearly 25-year education career as a middle and high school social studies teacher. After leaving the classroom he served as deputy director of educational issues at the American Federation of Teachers and as the founding executive director of the Education Quality Institute. Fleischman holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from the University of Florida.
Phone: 503.275.9507

Dr. Christopher Mazzeo/Director of Evidence Use & Policy

Dr. Christopher Mazzeo provides leadership over Education Northwest’s activities focused on evidence use and policy. He plays a key role in helping to strengthen existing alliances and build new ones with state education agencies, districts, and other organizations in the Northwest to better use data and research for improvement purposes. Mazzeo is also the deputy director of the institution’s regional educational laboratory contract, REL Northwest. Prior to joining Education Northwest, Mazzeo was Associate Director for Policy and Outreach at the Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR), where he consulted with state and national policymakers, school districts, and researchers on building research partnerships that support data use, develop indicator systems, and increase public engagement in education. Mazzeo helped develop research organizations modeled directly on CCSR in Newark and Los Angeles, and Texas, Louisiana, and Illinois. In addition to working for CCSR, Mazzeo has served as a senior policy analyst at the National Governors Association’s Center for Best Practices, and as an assistant professor in the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College. He holds a Ph.D. in Social Sciences, Policy, and Educational Practice from Stanford University.
Phone: 503.275.9505

Center Directors

Dr. Danette Parsley/Director
Center for School and District Improvement

Danette Parsley is the director of the Center for School and District Improvement. Her expertise covers many areas of systemic school and district improvement, including data-driven decision making, standards-based curriculum and assessment systems, community and team building for improvement, and afterschool teaching and learning practices. Before joining Education Northwest, Parsley served as Senior Director of System Improvement at Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL). In her career, she helped develop and carry out two multiyear, research and development initiatives sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES) and served on the expert panel that developed the IES Out-of-School Time Practice Guide. Parsley has also served as a classroom teacher and adolescent counselor. She holds a master’s degree in Educational Psychology, Research, and Evaluation Methodology from the University of Colorado at Denver and a doctorate in organization change from Pepperdine University.
Phone: 503.275.9633

Dr. Robert (Rob) Larson/Director
Center for Classroom Teaching and Learning

Dr. Rob Larson is the director of the Center for Classroom Teaching and Learning. Before joining Education Northwest, Larson was the director of the Oregon Leadership Network, a statewide initiative focused on improving instructional leadership, assessing leader performance, and enhancing equitable practices. He also served as the federal liaison for the Oregon Department of Education's State Superintendent of Public Instruction office. During his career he has served as a teacher, assistant principal, and instructional coordinator, and also directed Education Northwest's Science and Mathematics Education Program from 1992 to 1995. Larson holds an M.S. in Science Education from Oregon State University and an Ed.D. from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
Phone: 503.275.0656

Dr. Terri Akey and Dr. Theresa Deussen/Co-Directors
Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment

Dr. Terri Akey is co-director of the Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment at Education Northwest. Her research background and interests are in the areas of youth development, school reform, arts education and programming, and community development—all viewed from a systems perspective. She is particularly interested in policy and practice related to providing adequate and equitable supports and opportunities for children and youth to develop healthy lives, and the role that communities and larger social structures play in providing those opportunities. Her work in evaluating school reform includes serving as principal investigator for several large-scale urban school reform efforts. She has served as principal investigator for multiple large-scale youth development program evaluations. In addition, she has provided technical assistance to federal grantees to help them develop performance measures, align program activities, and summarize overall performance. Akey received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and Research, with emphases on developmental psychology and quantitative research methods from the University of Kansas in 1995. Since then, her work has included serving as research director for a large urban school district, an assistant professor at Auburn University, and as a research scientist for several educational and community research groups.
Phone: 503.275.9629

Dr. Theresa Deussen is co-director of the Center for Research, Evaluation, and Assessment. She designs, directs, and implements evaluation studies that primarily focus on literacy and English language acquisition initiatives. Her work includes serving as the principal investigator for a federally funded study of the efficacy of Project GLAD and for the evaluation of Striving Readers in Washington state. She also oversaw the evaluation of Reading First across six western states and led work on a Regional Educational Laboratory (REL)-funded study of literacy coaching in Reading First. Deussen recently served on the Alaska state literacy panel as well as on the Transitional Bilingual Instructional Program subcommittee of the Quality Education Commission in Washington. Prior to joining Education Northwest in 2001, Deussen taught sociology for several years and conducted evaluations for several agencies in the Northwest. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations and later received her master’s and doctoral degrees in sociology from the University of Michigan.
Phone: 503.275.9631

Dr. Eve McDermott/Director
Center for School, Family, and Community

Dr. Eve McDermott is the director of the Center for School, Family, and Community. Her experience includes a decade of community college administration and two decades of work with volunteer, community-based organizations. In her work at Education Northwest she has participated in numerous evaluation projects. McDermott's areas of expertise are in qualitative and quantitative research; after-school programs; and community college administration, organization, and program development. McDermott holds an Ed.D. in community college leadership from Oregon State University.
Phone: 503.275.0757

Administrative Directors

Dr. Steve R. Nelson/Director
Office of Planning and Outreach

Dr. Steve Nelson administrates the Office of Planning and Outreach. Since 1973, Dr. Nelson has supported Education Northwest's efforts by providing high-quality, third-party evaluation services, conducting research and development for improving educational outcomes in rural and Native American communities, and carrying out planning and quality assurance activities. Prior to joining Education Northwest, he worked as a research associate for the National Center for Leadership in Vocational Education. He holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from Western Washington University, as well as both master's and doctorate degrees in educational research from Ohio State University.
Phone: 503.275.9547

Joy Bell/Director
Finance Office

Joy Bell is responsible for the overall accounting, financial, and contracting functions of Education Northwest. Prior to joining Education Northwest, Bell's professional experience include more than 20 years of service in accounting and finance for small- to medium-size, privately-held government contractors. Most recently, she served as controller for Space Imaging, a defense contractor providing the first commercial one-meter resolution satellite imagery, whose shareholders were Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Systems. She also served as controller and acting CFO for a contractor providing desktop, network support and Web development, as well as in-flight and ground software development for multiple NASA contracts. Joy holds a bachelor's degree in business.
Phone: 503.275.0690

Kathryn Hoyt/Director
Human Resources

As Human Resources Director, Kathryn Hoyt supports Education Northwest's efforts to provide competitive employee benefits and compensation, ensure the recruitment and retention of qualified applicants, and to comply with employment-related regulations. Her background includes more than 15 years of experience in human resources, working for large, publicly-traded companies, including Honeywell and AT&T, and for private and family-owned companies, one of which was deemed the fastest growing company in the state of Arizona for two consecutive years. She holds a bachelor's degree in business, a master's degree in organizational management, and an SPHR certification.
Phone: 503.275.9513