JIM COX

 
Jim Cox has a 30 year track record of educational accomplishments to his credit, all in the fields of accountability, assessment, program evaluation and testing. His current passion is helping schools become "data driven" organizations. The praise offered most often by those who hear his speeches or attend his trainings is that he makes the complex seem so simple.

Jim taught math and coached for several years before earning his doctorate from Northern Colorado University in 1967. He then went to work for a major testing company for five years, returning to public education as a consultant for the Los Angeles County of Education in the late 1970s. He then took charge of research and evaluation for Anaheim Union High School district for eight years.

In the early 1990s, he was an associate professor teaching education management at the University of Laverne in California, and then took a leave to pursue consulting full time. During the past two years, he has worked with more than 300 school districts, helping them to become "data driven" organizations.

Jim has also written two books, and co-authored another, and has received several awards recognizing his leadership in this field.

 
Pat Puleo has been an educator for 30 years, and for the last five years, has been directing instructional support services in Fullerton School District, teaching teachers at CSU Fullerton, and is now directing education programs there. Her expertise in assesssing academic progress of students, and evaluating the quality of teaching, enabled her to become one of a select group of education consultants assisting California's underperforming schools.

She's excelled not just in the field with educators and leading school improvement, but in parent education as well. As district administrator and principal at Golden Hill School in Fullerton School District, her work included talking with parents about how their children were progressing. It is this ability to interpret many measures of academic progress — some technical like standardized tests and others like grades that are far less complex — that makes her record as a veteran educator so unique.

Her list of publications includes citations for numerous journal articles on assessment and accountability. She has been recognized as Administrator of the Year by the Orange County School Library Association, and the Quality Education Award from the California Council on the Education of Teachers. She is a member of many professional organizations, including the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, its California executive council, and the Association of California School Administrators.