Consultants

Rafael Heller
Senior Writer

Rafael Heller, Ph.D. has written dozens of reports, articles, op-ed pieces, speeches, and other materials on behalf of many prominent education policy groups, nonprofits, and other national organizations. He has more than twenty years experience as a teacher, researcher, and policy advocate, with particular expertise in reading and writing instruction, teacher education, and secondary-level school improvement. Throughout 2010, he worked closely with CommunicationWorks to produce a range of articles, commentary pieces, and Congressional briefing materials for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, including the research report Building a Nation of Readers, which summarizes recent research into the effects of public media on literacy learning.

Additionally, he has collaborated with Shep Ranbom to write and/or edit a number of major publications, such as Professional Learning in the Learning Profession, authored by Linda Darling-Hammond and colleagues at Stanford’s Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, and Educating School Leaders, by Arthur Levine, at that time the president of Teachers College. From 2005-07, Heller was a senior policy associate at the Alliance for Excellent Education, where he directed efforts to improve reading and writing instruction in the nation's middle and high schools.

Previously, he held positions at the Association of American Colleges and Universities, the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador, Harvard's Metropolitan Opportunity Project, and elsewhere, and he has served as an adviser to the National Adolescent Literacy Coalition, the National Youth Literacy Network, and AdLit.org (an online resource produced by WETA Public Television). Heller earned his Ph.D. in English & Education from the University of Michigan, and he holds a master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.A. from Oberlin College.

Mark Toner
Senior Writer

Mark Toner, senior writer, specializes in K-12 and education policy issues, teaching, technology, and local improvement efforts. Toner has served as editor and manager of publications for the 3.2 million-member National Education Association and as senior editor of Teacher Magazine, which was nominated for a National Magazine Award for general excellence during his tenure. As a consultant, he serves as the editorial lead for two associations and manages case development for a federal grant documenting effective practices in urban school districts and charter schools. Toner has been involved with Internet publishing since 1995, when he singlehandedly launched an association magazine’s website and helped develop the strategy guiding the organization’s broader Web presence. He has since created a wide range of online features and media packages, introduced the first blogs at two organizations, and played key roles in site redesigns at three associations. Toner has also researched and developed white papers on Internet strategy for traditional publishers through his work at the Newspaper Association of America. His personal online projects have been featured in The Washington Post and Washingtonian magazine. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the College of William & Mary.

Michael Usdan
Senior Policy Advisor

Michael Usdan served as President of the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) from 1981 through 2001. As of July 1, 2001, he became a Senior Fellow at the organization. Before joining IEL, Mr. Usdan was Connecticut's Commissioner of Higher Education from 1978 through 1981. From 1974 through 1978, Mr. Usdan was President of the Merrill-Palmer Institute in Detroit. Mr. Usdan received his masters and doctoral degrees from Columbia University, having previously completed his undergraduate studies at Brown University. He worked on the staff of the late Dr. James B. Conant in the latter's famous studies of American education and has taught at Columbia University, City University of New York, Northwestern, and Fordham Universities, and in schools in New York City and White Plains. He also served as a member and president of the school board in the city of New Rochelle, NY, from 1969 to 1974.

Mr. Usdan has written many articles and books on education. Several themes dominate his writing: problems relating to urban education, the relationship of government and politics to education, and the growing interest in developing closer relationships between elementary, secondary, and higher education. He has been a consultant to local and state boards of education and educational organizations throughout the country. Currently, among other affiliations, he is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Phi Delta Kappan magazine and a consultant to the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Hunt Institute, and the Council of Chief State School Officers. He also serves as a Senior Fellow at the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education and the George Washington University.