Dave Phillips, Director, WestEd
Dave Phillips, a Project Director at WestEd, leads CIFR. This role builds on his years of experience developing processes, creating cross-organizational partnerships, and organizing teams to provide effective technical assistance to state agencies. He has previously held leadership roles in a number of federally funded regional and national data and TA centers, including serving as co-director of the prior iteration of CIFR, convener of the Fiscal Improvement Team in the Regional Resource Center Program, co-lead of the Urban School Improvement Alliance for the Regional Education Lab-Northeast and Islands, and TA Team Lead for the IDEA Data Center.
Prior to joining WestEd, Phillips served as the IDEA Part B Data Manager for the State of Vermont.
Jenifer Harr-Robins, Deputy Director, AIR
Jenifer J. Harr-Robins, Ph.D., is a principal researcher at the American Institutes for Research and the Deputy Director of CIFR. She has 20 years of special education research and evaluation experience with expertise in special education finance. As a co-director of the first CIFR (2014 – 2020), she focused primarily on knowledge development and external evaluation activities, and the quality assurance process of CIFR products.
Dr. Harr-Robins also was the associate director of the Center for Special Education Finance (CSEF) and its national Special Education Expenditure Project (SEEP). Over the years, she has conducted evaluations of state special education funding systems for California, the District of Columbia, Georgia, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. She is the co-author of two book chapters on special education finance.
Dr. Harr-Robins’ work spans beyond finance. Other special education research includes an Institute of Education Sciences study of school accountability systems, evaluations of special education programs, and examinations of special education service delivery.
Nancy O’Hara, Technical Assistance Lead, WestEd
Nancy O’Hara, Senior Program Associate at WestEd, is an expert in planning and providing technical assistance on special education in the areas of policy and procedures development, high-quality data, fiscal data and policies, and general supervision and monitoring. She is experienced in coordinating projects, resource and tool development, and facilitating authentic stakeholder engagement in the development of resources, policies, and procedures.
O’Hara has experience at the local, state, university, and national TA levels. O’Hara served as the state director of special education in Georgia, among many other local and state educational leadership positions.
Currently, O’Hara works on multiple national technical assistance centers. She provides quality technical assistance to states with clear goals, defined processes and outcomes that support sustainability in the state. O’Hara has been providing and coordinating projects, resource development, and TA at the national level for nine years.
Anne Louise Thompson, Part B TA Coordinator, WestEd
Anne Louise Thompson, Ph.D., is a Senior Program Associate at WestEd, bringing expertise to CIFR in special education, fiscal management, leadership, educational systems change, policy implementation, and program evaluation. Currently, Dr. Thompson is also a state TA facilitator and content specialist with the National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI). Previously, she served with the CIFR as a content specialist and with the NCSI’s Fiscal Support Team.
Dr. Thompson served as Connecticut’s state director of special education, working for 15 years at the state level. She was a director of special education, district coordinator of preschool services, and director of Title I services in CT; special education teacher in CT and Virginia; and adjunct university faculty in the US and the Netherlands. Along with national and international presentations on fiscal, leadership, and other educational topics in special education, she has multiple publications. Thompson was the 2008 LRP Publications® JoLeta Reynolds Service to Special Education Award recipient for her impact on the quality of special education services through leadership, instruction, special projects, innovation, management, program design, and/or improvement.
Ardith Ferguson, Part C TA Coordinator, WestEd
Ardith Ferguson, M.Ed., is a Senior Program Associate at WestEd contributing early intervention, Part C fiscal management, early childhood systems change, leadership, policy development and implementation, and general supervision expertise to CIFR. Ferguson has 30 years of experience providing local and state coordination of evidence-based practices, comprehensive system of personnel development, implementation of coordinated fiscal systems, general supervision and program accountability to ensure compliance, correction of noncompliance and quality improvement, and promotion of parent leadership and interagency collaboration for early childhood initiatives.
Ferguson is experienced in providing local, state, and national leadership and technical assistance to determine policy changes, developing strategic planning for new models of service delivery, and anticipating future issues that may affect early intervention systems. Prior to joining WestEd, she worked for a state Lead Agency as the Part C Coordinator and was responsible for the federal Part C grant and the state-funded early intervention program. In that position, she provided state leadership on interagency collaboration, general supervision, the statewide early intervention service delivery system, policy development, and fiscal accountability. Before joining the state’s Part C team, Ferguson directed a local metro area Part C program for eleven years. She began her early intervention career as a parent and as a family member on the first Interagency Coordinating Council in the State of Florida.
Leslie Fox, Part C TA Coordinator, WestEd
Leslie Fox, Ph.D., is the Program Director for Early Intervention, Resilience & Inclusion at WestEd. She is responsible for project development and oversight of cross-sector early childhood policies and practices intended to improve learning, health and developmental outcomes for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. Dr. Fox joined WestEd after working at the US Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs where she provided monitoring and technical assistance to state agencies implementing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Dr. Fox has over 20 years of experience as an early intervention specialist working in birth to eight IDEA programs.
Tom Munk, Tool and Products Lead, Westat
Tom Munk, Ph.D., is a senior education analyst and Senior Study Director at Westat with 37 years of experience in education, always with a focus on mathematics and equity. His experience includes product development, technical assistance, teaching, evaluation, policy research, special education, and finance. Since the inception of CIFR in 2014, he has been the Westat subcontract director and Tool Team Lead.
For the IDEA Data Center and the Data Accountability Center, Dr. Munk has, since 2011, provided TA and developed tools regarding comprehensive coordinated early intervening services (CCEIS), root cause analysis, and significant disproportionality. He has co-authored 19 reports, articles, and book sections and, for CIFR, led the development of more than 30 tools and sub-tools.
Joseph Mosley, Communications Lead, WestEd
Joseph Mosley is the Communications Lead for CIFR at WestEd. He leads and manages CIFR’s communications activities including website content, newsletters, and social media. Mosley brings a versatile set of skills and knowledge through his background in building communications strategies, content development, and digital marketing. In 2019, Mosley received the Ed Myers Award for Exceptional Contributions to WestEd.
Sanjay Pardanani, Technology Lead, WestEd
Sanjay Pardanani is a Project Manager with WestEd’s Information Technology (IT) department. In that role, he manages all aspects in the production life cycle for websites, custom web-based applications, videos, and other multimedia products. He has been CIFR’s technology lead since the center’s inception in 2014.
Prior to joining WestEd, Pardanani’s experience includes working with English learners and students in special education.
Courtney Clingan, External Evaluation Lead, The Improve Group
Courtney Clingan, a Senior Consultant with The Improve Group, leads the evaluation for CIFR. Clingan has been a key member of CIFR’s evaluation team since the center’s inception in 2014. Since then, her work has focused on real-time analysis and reporting to support continued improvement of CIFR’s targeted technical assistance.
Clingan draws evaluation experience from projects spanning multiple disciplines; notably, she has also supported work partnering with WestEd and the Minnesota Department of Education on a statewide evaluation of the Alternative Delivery of Specialized Instructional Services program, which aims to avoid inappropriate referrals to special education programs among Minnesota schools. She has extensive experience overseeing evaluation design, data collection, analysis, and development of practical findings.