Dr. Shannon Calderone

CQI Coach

Dr. Shannon Calderone is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership & Sport Management at Washington State University. In this role, she has taught classes on leading for school and organizational improvement, human resource and fiscal management, as well as research methodology and practice-based inquiry. She has likewise worked with a number of districts within the state of Washington on an assortment of improvement initiatives as well as led statewide workshops for education leaders on the implementation of improvement science and design-based principles within their respective schools and districts.

Dr. Calderone’s scholarly work focuses on the importance of social cohesion to school success. To this end, she is most interested in understanding the drivers of trust and risk perceptions among educators and students, as well as the impact of these perceptions on educational decision-making and change efforts.

Dr. Calderone earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in education from the University of California, Los Angeles. She holds a B.A. in History from Georgetown University.

DR. JULIE KALLIO

CQI Coach

Julie Kallio is an innovation specialist at the Breck School where she leads participatory design, coaches educators, and provides program and technology support, all with the goal of empowering educators to lead systems change. Julie graduated with her PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, studying how Networked Improvement Communities can build educational systems for innovation and improvement. She was the lead researcher on the Personalization in Practice (PiP) research team and former research director for the PiP-Networked Improvement Community, an IES grant-funded position to bring together teachers to do collaborative design work around emerging practices. Her research interests include research-practice partnerships, design, innovation and improvement, social networks, and physical learning spaces. Julie previously taught in outdoor education and independent schools, leading technology integration, teaching science, and dorm parenting.

Dr. Marissa Kalu-Thompson

CQI Coach

Dr. Kalu-Thompson brings over 20 years of teaching, instructional and improvement coaching, and educational leadership to her role as an Improvement Coach at Early Intel. Her educational career began in Toronto, Ontario Canada as a 4th/5th grade teacher, and has spanned to the United States, in Atlanta, Georgia, San Francisco/Oakland, California, and currently Seattle, Washington. During her dynamic career in education, Marissa has had the opportunity to hold several roles in the service of children, teachers, and community members: specifically, a classroom teacher, instructional coach, assistant principal, principal and most recently a Senior improvement coach within both urban and suburban school districts. Believing in the power of continuous improvement as a practice for growth and development for both students and educators, Marissa continues to strive for full equity for all students, but particularly those that continue to be harmed by inequitable systemic practices and beliefs.

Dr. Kalu-Thompson earned a Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University (Kingston, Ontario), an Honors Bachelor of Social Work from York University (North York, Ontario), a Master’s in Education in Curriculum, Teaching and Learning from the University of Toronto/OISE, (Toronto, Ontario), and her Doctorate in Educational Leadership that researched the impact Emotional Intelligence may have on the leadership of K-5 Principals), from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. In her spare time, reading (for pleasure), creative writing, visiting new restaurants and traveling keep her cup(s) of happiness filled!

Sheila Brookes

Data Coach & Training Coordinator

Passionate! Devoted! Enthusiastic! Those are adjectives that describe Dr. Brookes’ dedication to improving the lives of young children and their families. Dr. Brookes has committed her career to making a difference, one child, one teacher, one program, one agency at a time.

Dr. Brookes brings vast experience in the early education field with her to Early Intel. She started her career in early childhood as a preschool teacher, then found she loved teaching infants and toddlers. She moved on to direct a large, hospital-based, early childhood program before obtaining her Ph.D. and teaching Child and Family Science.

She has worked with and led many research projects, but none that have more meaning to her than her research on the first wave of Early Head Start programs, which culminated in the book, Keepin' On: The Everyday Struggles of Young Families in Poverty. This book describes vividly describes the powerful journey of nine young African-American mothers facing issues related to single parenthood, poverty, and their experience with Early Head Start.

Dr. Brookes brings her prior experience as an Education Specialist and a Systems Specialist with the Office of Head Start (OHS) TTA Network and her experience as a Senior Training and Technical Assistance Specialist for the National Center for Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning (NCECDTL) to her position as Data Coach and Training Coordinator with Early Intel. She is very excited to be working with Head Start programs and to share in their journey towards excellence.

Sheila is a proud mother to five, fine young women and one fabulous granddaughter. She currently calls Columbia, Missouri home and loves taking long walks with her husband and black lab, Freyja. Her favorite pastime is reading. Her favorite authors are Brene’ Brown, John and Julie Schwartz Gottman, and Danielle Steel (shhhh…. let’s keep that little secret just between the two of us!).

Linda Sheriff

CQI Coach

For the last 15 years, Linda has provided guidance and technical assistance to school and community leaders on projects that improve the education, health, and well-being of students and staff. Most recently, she was the Deputy Director of the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools at the Milken Institute School of Public Health, the George Washington University where she directed projects that advanced school-community collaboration, led Communities of Practice and provided technical assistance to school staff on improving family engagement efforts and school behavioral health supports, and supported district-wide CQI efforts for improving school mental health systems. Her experiences span school health, education, nonprofit communication, publishing, teaching English in Slovakia, and developing educational products for the Smithsonian Institution. Linda has a B.A. in English Literature from Colgate University and an MEd from the University of Virginia. She is currently working on her dissertation on school leadership for the whole child for her EDD in Administration and Supervision at the University of Virginia.