Dr. Karen Barton joined NWEA in June 2016 and brings nearly twenty years of experience in education and measurement, with a focus on psychometrics, research, accessibility, and accommodations. Dr. Barton began her career in education as a special education teacher. Prior to joining NWEA, Dr. Barton was vice president of Learning Analytics at Discovery Education, where she managed a team of experts focused on the creation and analyses of systems of instruction and assessments. At Discovery Education, Dr. Barton also led research, psychometrics, and content development efforts.

A research scientist in large-scale assessments for fifteen years, Dr. Barton holds her doctorate (PhD) in Educational Research and Measurement from the University of South Carolina, and earned a master of science (MS) degree in Special Education and a bachelor of science (BS) degree in Psychology, both from Longwood University.

Scott Hinders helped write the book about operational best practices in statewide assessment programs. Mr. Hinders co-authored the 2010 Operational Best Practices for Statewide Large-Scale Assessment Programs, the first edition of the guide developed by the Association of Test Publishers and the Council of Chief State School Officers.

That experience – and more than twenty years in the assessment industry working across content development, scoring, reporting, project management, and customer service – has prepared Mr. Hinders for his role at NWEA. Here, he collaborates with Publishing, Research, Product Engineering, Partner Accounts, and NWEA business partners to develop operational and technological solutions that fulfill the needs of traditional paper processes and hand scoring.

Ken Kobell brings more than thirty-five years of experience in security and compliance, including more than a decade in the educational assessment industry. Mr. Kobell’s experience includes an eighteen-month stint when he held two vice president positions simultaneously. While at Pearson, Mr. Kobell led teams that analyzed data, commissioned research studies, and ultimately improved the reliability of assessment delivery. This allowed the vendor to put reports in state officials’ hands faster so the information could be passed on to educators to improve student learning.

Previously, he was the director of test delivery with Harcourt Assessments for the states of Michigan, Wyoming, and Hawaii. Mr. Kobell is a certified PMP®, a PRINCE2® practitioner, and a Certified Scrum Product Owner®. He served as a colonel in the United States Marine Corps Reserve for thirty years. Mr. Kobell has a bachelor of science in Behavioral Science from New York Institute of Technology and a master of Business Administration from the University of West Florida.

Chris Rozunick draws upon nearly two decades of experience developing assessments that appropriately harness technology to help students show what they know. While at the National Center for Educational Accountability, Ms. Rozunick played a large role in the American Diploma Project, which brought together fifteen states to establish graduation benchmarks that signify readiness for jobs and college.

Ms. Rozunick co-authored the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scientific literacy framework. In ten years leading content development at Pearson, Ms. Rozunick developed training materials for item writers and content specialists. She guided staff on topics including content standards, item and test specifications, assessment blueprints, test design and construction, and fairness for English-as-a-second-language, English Language Arts/Reading, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and special education and alternate assessments. Prior to Pearson, Ms. Rozunick analyzed student data for the Texas Education Agency Student Assessment Division and the Florida Department of Education.

Dr. Christina Schneider provides technical expertise to states, districts, and schools desiring to build coherent, cohesive connections across classroom, interim, and large scale assessments. Dr. Schneider has led psychometric work and standard settings for large-scale assessment programs and co-developed the framework for creating Range achievement level descriptors (ALDs) for statewide achievement tests, a framework currently used by forty percent of states. Before joining NWEA, Dr. Schneider worked with the states of Utah, Florida, Georgia, and those in the Smarter Balanced® Consortium to develop ALDs comingled with learning progressions that show more clearly the learning outcomes targeted by assessments. At NWEA, Dr. Schneider oversees Ph.D.-level scientists working on summative assessment contracts and sets the technical direction for those contracts.