NPEA Conference

Ron Fairchild is the executive director of the National Center for Summer Learning and a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education. Under Mr. Fairchild’s leadership since 2002, the Center has grown from a local program serving the children of Baltimore city, to become the only national organization focused exclusively on creating opportunities for high-quality summer learning for all young people. In 2007, the Center’s efforts led to more than $14 million in public investment in summer programming for youth.

Mr. Fairchild’s strategic direction continues to drive the Center’s efforts to close the achievement gap between disadvantaged youth and their higher-income peers. Mr. Fairchild is widely recognized as an authority on the issues of summer learning loss. He has authored numerous publications and speaks regularly on research-based approaches and models of effective summer learning programs. His frequent appearances in the media include segments on NPR, CNN, NBC Nightly News, and the CBS Early Show.

Thomas H. Parker is the Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts. For nearly a decade, Mr. Parker has been committed to building diversity initiatives at Amherst College. Through his tireless efforts, students of color account for more than 38% of Amherst’s student body. Mr. Parker developed and administered Amherst’s alumni network, and its student search program. He also spearheaded the development and implementation of innovative Admissions software systems. Mr. Parker holds a Masters of Arts in Teaching in English from Harvard University.

Mark J. Mitchell is the vice president for school information services at NAIS. In this role, Mark oversees the operation of the School and Student Service for Financial Aid (SSS), providing support to schools and other organizations through workshops, resource material, and consultative guidance in effective administration of financial aid programs. In addition to overseeing the SSS program, Mark has also been responsible for NAIS’s StatsOnline program, to collect, analyze, and disseminate independent school statistics, as well as developing training initiatives to broaden member use of independent school data, and with the NAIS Financing Schools Project, which includes serving as faculty for and coordinator of the NAIS/NBOA Financing Schools Institute (FSI) and related research activity.

Mark is a frequent presenter at local, state, regional, and national conferences on school financial aid issues and practices and has authored articles and chapters on education financing strategies in magazines and books. After graduating from Northwestern University (BS, Communication Studies), Mark served as assistant director of financial aid at Northwestern and later as coordinator of new student aid at Lake Forest College. Just before joining NAIS, Mark worked as an account executive for Access Group, Inc, a firm specializing in graduate education financing.

Jay Rosner is a national admissions test expert based in the San Francisco bay area. As the Executive Director of The Princeton Review Foundation, he has developed programs jointly with such organizations as the NAACP, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, College and Graduate Horizons (serving Native American students) and the Asian Pacific Fund, and with a diverse group of universities ranging from historically black Xavier University (in New Orleans) to his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. He specializes in providing test preparation resources to low-income and underrepresented minority students for tests such as the SAT, ACT, GMAT, GRE, MCAT and LSAT.

Jay's career has combined education and law, with an emphasis on student advocacy. In 2001 he testified as an expert witness in favor of affirmative action in the trial phase of the landmark University of Michigan Law School affirmative action case. He is the co-author of a law review article cited in several briefs submitted to the Supreme Court in the appeal of that case. For many years Jay has served as the only national pro bono legal advisor and resource to students having disputes with ETS and other testing companies. He is a testing consultant to a wide variety of groups, ranging from KIPP Schools to the National Association of (College) Basketball Coaches. Jay does over 30 presentations and workshops each year at educational conferences and programs. He has testified before state legislative committees in California, Texas, Illinois and New Jersey.

Jay is quoted regularly in print media (Time Magazine, etc.) and has appeared on panel talk shows on national public television (Uncommon Knowledge) and public radio (Michael Krasny Show in San Francisco). For his work with minority premedical students, in 2002 Jay was awarded the Howard D. Ingram, MD, Humanitarian Award by the Vines Medical Society of San Bernardino, California. Prior to becoming the executive director of The Princeton Review Foundation in 1995, Jay was General Counsel at The Princeton Review. He began working full-time at The Princeton Review in 1987. For 8 years, from 1977 to 1985, Jay ran an on-campus legal clinic, advising students at The College of New Jersey. The clinic was sponsored by the student government.

As Commongood Career’s Co-Founder and Vice President, Cassie Scarano is directly responsible for its service development and delivery. Cassie has over ten years of experience in non-profit organizations and has served as the Dean of Admissions at The Steppingstone Foundation, Director of Operations at The New Teacher Project's Massachusetts Institute for New Teachers (MINT), and Director of Summerbridge Cambridge, all non-profits dedicated to providing high quality educational opportunities to a diversity of students.

Cassie holds a master's degree in Education from Boston University, and a master's degree in Business Administration from Boston University, with a concentration in Non-Profit Management, as well as a bachelor's degree in sociology from Northwestern University. Cassie is a member of the LeadBoston Class of 2009 and an active member of the Board of Directors for Summerbridge Cambridge.