Co-directors

Stephen Plank is an assistant professor in The Johns Hopkins University’s Department of Sociology, and is also affiliated with the Center for Social Organization of Schools. Plank received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago (1995). He received a bachelor’s degree in mathematical methods in the social sciences, and sociology, from Northwestern University (1990). His published education research includes Finding One’s Place: Teaching Styles and Peer Relations in Diverse Classrooms (Teachers College Press, 2000), and articles in the American Educational Research Journal, Teachers College Record, Journal of Vocational Education Research, and Sociology of Education (forthcoming). Much of his past and current research focuses on solutions to the problem of high school dropouts, predictors of successful transitions to college, and school climate.

Obed Norman (Ph.D. in Science Education, University of Iowa) is an associate professor of science education in Morgan State University's Graduate Program in Mathematics and Science Education. In addition to serving as BERC co-director, he is the principal investigator on a National Science Foundation-funded research project aimed at improving science instruction and student motivation in the Baltimore City Public Schools. Dr. Norman has extensive high school science teaching experience and currently serves on the editorial board of the Journal for Research in Science Teaching (JRST).

Associate Director

Robert Balfanz is a research scientist at the Center for Social Organization of Schools at The Johns Hopkins University. He is the co-director of the Talent Development Middle Grades and Talent Development High School programs, which is working with more than 100 high-poverty secondary schools to develop, implement and evaluate comprehensive whole-school reforms. He is also co-operator of the Baltimore Talent Development High School, an innovation high school run in partnership with the Baltimore City Public School System. He has published widely on secondary school reform, high school dropouts, early warning systems and instructional interventions in high-poverty schools. Recent work includes Locating the Dropout Crisis, with co-author Nettie Legters in which they identify the number and location of high schools with high dropout rates and What Your Community Can Do to End its Dropout Crisis. Dr. Balfanz is the first recipient of the Alliance for Excellence in Education’s Everyone a Graduate Award.

Executive Committee

BERC’s Executive Committee includes representatives from The Johns Hopkins University, Morgan State University, the Baltimore City Public School System, and civic and community partners. Dr. Stephen Plank (Johns Hopkins University), Dr. Obed Norman (Morgan State University), Dr. Robert Balfanz (Johns Hopkins University), and Dr. Andrés Alonso, chief executive officer of BCPSS serve on the Executive Committee. Additional members include Dr. Mary Minter, chief academic officer for BCPSS; Dr. Benjamin Feldman, the research, evaluation, and accountability officer for BCPSS; Mr. J. Howard Henderson, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Baltimore Urban League; and Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore City Health Commissioner. One additional member will be appointed in the spring of 2008 to represent civic and community groups.

Dr. Andrés Alonso was appointed chief executive officer of the BCPSS in July 2007. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Columbia University, and earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He resigned a lucrative law practice to teach special education and English language learners for 11 years in Newark, and earned a doctorate from Harvard University’s elite Urban Superintendents Program. Under his leadership as deputy chancellor of teaching and learning in the New York City Department of Education, the school system was a finalist for three consecutive years for the prestigious Broad Foundation Prize for Urban Education, which honors districts demonstrating the greatest overall performance and improvement.

Dr. Mary Minter was appointed chief academic officer of the BCPSS in 2007 in recognition of her long career as a teacher, principal, mentor of principals, area academic officer, and leader in turning around low-performing schools. She was named a Maryland Distinguished Principal from 2003-2006, and provided training for new principals in the state’s Principals' Academy. In 2006, she was promoted to area academic officer, and successfully led a district that included several restructured schools that had failed to make Adequate Yearly Progress under the No Child Left Behind Act and state accountability measures for five consecutive years.

Dr. Benjamin Feldman is the research, evaluation, and accountability officer for the Baltimore City Public School System. In this capacity, he directs the Division of Research, Evaluation, Assessment, and Accountability (DREAA). DREAA is responsible for institutional and external research, program evaluation, student assessment, and other activities that support system accountability.

Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a Harvard-trained pediatrician and former aide to U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, was appointed commissioner of the Baltimore City Health Department in December 2006. BCHD is the oldest continuously operating health department in the United States. It aims to improve the health and well-being of Baltimore residents in partnership with agencies, health care providers, community organizations, the media, and funders. Dr. Sharfstein brings strength to the BERC Executive Committee with his strong analytic mind, desire to have research serve public policy and citizens’ well-being, and commitment to productive interagency collaborations.

Mr. J. Howard Henderson has been active in the struggle for civil and human rights for over forty years, most recently as president and chief executive officer of the Greater Baltimore Urban League. Prior to assuming leadership of GBUL in 2000, Mr. Henderson served in various executive and management positions in the NAACP national office for over a decade, including as director of national programs.  As director of the West Virginia State Employment and Training Division, he oversaw a budget of $95.5 million for job training and development. Mr. Henderson earned a B.S. in education and an M.A. in educational administration from Marshall University.

Affiliated Researchers and Staff

Martha Abele Mac Iver (Ph.D. in political science, University of Michigan) is an associate research scientist at the Center for Social Organization of Schools at The Johns Hopkins University. She was recently co-principal investigator on a National Science Foundation-funded study of the impact of various reform efforts (privatization, K-8 conversion, whole school reform models) on middle grades student achievement in Philadelphia, and has conducted numerous longitudinal studies examining factors associated with student achievement in Baltimore. Her current research addresses the effects of whole school reform efforts and systemic change in urban school districts.

Rachel Durham is an assistant research scientist with the Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC) at The Johns Hopkins University. She received her Ph.D. in sociology and demography from Pennsylvania State University and conducted her dissertation research on educational achievement trends among language-minority children. She has also published research on early literacy ability, school readiness, and the relationship between early oral language skills and educational achievement. She and her colleagues at BERC are examining school engagement and achievement trends among students in the Baltimore City Public School System, evaluating college access and persistence among BCPSS graduates, and developing protocols for merging school and student-level information with data from neighborhood or community-level sources to discover relationships between environmental factors and educational achievement.

Advisory Board

BERC envisions an advisory board reflecting the diversity of Baltimore’s educational and civic community, including parents, teachers, business people, researchers, foundation representatives, and community advocates.

In the spring of 2008, BERC will host a broadly publicized open meeting for those interested in learning more and possibly joining BERC's mission to inform and impact Baltimore’s education policy and practice.