The ICSEI Board

President – Jim Spillane

James P. Spillane is the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Professor in Learning and Organizational Change at the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. A former primary school teacher at St. Mary’s on the Hill N.S., Cork, Spillane has published extensively on issues of education policy, policy implementation, school reform, and school leadership.

Jim’s work explores the policy implementation process at the state, district, school, and classroom levels, focusing on intergovernmental and policy-practice relations. He also studies organizational leadership and change, and distributed leadership in schools. Recent projects include studies of relations between organizational infrastructure and instructional advice-seeking in schools and the socialization of new school principals. In recognition of his contribution to educational research, Spillane was elected to the US National Academy of Education in 2013 and to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020.

President Elect – Danette Parsley

Danette Parsley is chief executive officer at Marzano Research. Danette brings over two decades of experience leading people and projects to support school systems in pursuing evidence-based change to the company. Under her leadership, staff combine deep content, scientific inquiry, and system improvement expertise with a wealth of practical experience to support partners in improving education systems, practices, and outcomes for all learners. She is passionate about creating conditions for individuals, teams, and organizations to develop and thrive.

Dannette is an expert in school system improvement, professional learning networks, rural education, research-practice partnerships, and out-of-school-time programs and practices. She has led dozens of large-scale projects supporting the efforts of schools, districts, and state education agencies in improving student outcomes. She has presented and published widely on these educational improvement topics. Danette received a doctorate in organizational change from Pepperdine University and a master’s degree in educational psychology, research and evaluation methodology, from the University of Colorado at Denver.

Board Member – Dorothy Andrews

Dr Dorothy Andrews, B.A; Dip Ed; M.EdSt; PhD, FACE, FACEQ, FACEL, is an Associate Professor, and Director of the Leadership Research International at the University of Southern Queensland. Dorothy teaches and researches in the areas of leadership and processes of whole-school improvement.

Dorothy has been engaged in three longitudinal studies tracing the impact of whole school improvement processes (IDEAS). The LRI team was awarded the Australian Council for Educational Leaders Gold Medal in 2003 for excellence in research. Dorothy’s current research is focused on Leadership (including Teacher Leadership), capacity building and organisational change.

Board Member – Paul Campbell

Dr Paul Campbell is a (Research) Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Leadership at The Education University of Hong Kong. His research and teaching focuses on the intersection of collaboration, leadership, and educational change, with a particular interest in education policy development and governance. Prior to moving into higher education, Paul was a Vice Principal, Senior Leader, and Primary Teacher in Scotland, Australia, Spain and Hong Kong, and a Scholar-Practitioner Fellow of the Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change. 

Paul is widely engaged in the broader education community. He serves as a Co-coordinator of ICSEI’s Educational Leadership Network and sits on the editorial board of the School Leadership and Management (SLAM) andManagement in Education (MiE) journals, the Publications Committee of the British Educational Research Association (BERA), and is a member of the WISE ALL-IN network. 

Board Member –  Melanie Ehren

Melanie Ehren is a Professor in Educational Governance at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, director of research institute LEARN! and honorary professor at University College, Institute of Education.

Melanie combines a strong disciplinary background in educational and school effectiveness with a comparative approach to understanding outcomes of education systems. Her international work on school evaluation and improvement has included various countries in the EU, Africa, Asia and the U.S, including visiting scholarships at Harvard University and Columbia University and consultancies for the OECD, UNICEF, and the EU.

Board Member – Christine Grice

Dr Christine Grice is an Australian educator. Christine’s research seeks to understand what underpins pedagogical decisions in schools. Her key research interests are in leading learning, curriculum, and pedagogy, using practice theory approaches.

Christine has over 25 years of teaching and leadership experience in schools and universities.  She enjoys supporting educators to connect theory and practice for purposeful leading in her research and practice. She coordinates the Master of Educational Leadership at The University of Sydney.

Board Member – Trista Hollweck

Dr. Trista Hollweck is a pracademic who integrates the worlds of research, policy, and practice. She is a former teacher, vice-principal, and school district consultant. Currently, Trista is the Principal Investigator of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC)-funded research project “Teaching Matters – Scaling Quality Teacher-Driven Communities of Practice and Learning in Sierra Leone,” led by the Canadian non-governmental organization CODE. She also teaches courses in teacher education and graduate studies at the University of Ottawa, Ontario.  Trista has designed, implemented and led educational networks at the local, provincial, national and international level, such as the Teacher Induction Program (TIP) at the Western Quebec School Board, the Accompaniment Project for the Leadership Committee for English Education in Quebec (LCEEQ), the Canadian Playful Schools Network and the ARC Education Project.

Trista’s research examines professional learning networks, teacher retention and evaluation, mentoring and coaching programs, women and educational leadership, learning through play, and systemic change. Trista received her doctorate from the University of Ottawa and is an active ICSEI member. She was the ICSEI Early Career representative from 2017-2019, co-chair of the Generational Renewal, Inclusion and Diversity (GRID) Standing Committee  and co-editor of the ICSEI Dialogic. Trista is a proud mom of three and is committed to supporting schools and systems to improve education for all students within and across educational systems globally.

Board Member – Carmen Montecinos

Carmen Montecinos is a professor of psychology and the Executive Director of the Leadership Centre at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile.  She is also executive director of C Líder, a consortium of four institutions conducting research and development programs on school improvement and educational leadership in Chile. In addition, she is a principal researcher with the Centre for Advanced Research in Education at the Universidad de Chile.  Carmen has conducted research on initial teacher preparation with a focus on the field-based component and on situated learning among novice school principals. 

Carmen serves on the editorial board of international journals, including  Leadership and Policy in Schools, Educational Management Administration & Leadershipand the Journal of Educational Administration). Carmen also has extensive experience of leading a range of evaluation studies of innovative university-based programs and of educational policies.

Board Member –  Mauricio Pino-Yancovich

Mauricio Pino-Yancovic is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Education, and an Associate Researcher at the Center for Advanced Research in Education of the University of Chile. He has a Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Mauricio is member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Professional Capital and Community. In ICSEI Mauricio is Chair of the Generational Renewal, Inclusion and Diversity (GRID) Standing Committee and Co-Coordinator of the Crisis Response in Education Network. His academic and research experience is focused on educational policy, school networks, and evaluation.

Mauricio is currently researching the functioning and influence of educational networks on teachers’ practices in the new public educational administration, funded by a national grant from the government of Chile. He has lead the development of the collaborative inquiry network strategy implemented with countries of Latin America. He also leads the evaluation of the school improvement networks strategy and programs to support collaborative inquiry capacities in Chile. Recent publications of Mauricio include books and articles about professional learning networks, teachers’ professional development, and critical perspectives on evaluation and assessment.  

Board Member – Pasi Sahlberg

Pasi Sahlberg is a Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Melbourne. With a rich background encompassing teaching and teacher education at the University of Helsinki, directorship at Finland’s Ministry of Education, and significant roles at esteemed institutions such as the World Bank and the European Commission, Pasi has emerged as a global thought-leader in the field of education. His research and professional pursuits center around the interplay of research, policy, and practice within education. Pasi’s contributions to the field have been widely recognized, as evidenced by his receipt of numerous prestigious awards, including the 2012 Education Award in Finland, the 2013 Grawemeyer Award in the U.S., the 2014 Robert Owen Award in Scotland, the 2016 Lego Prize in Denmark, and the 2021 Dr. Paul Brock Memorial Medal in Australia.

Residing with his family in South Melbourne, Pasi continues to dedicate himself to advancing the discourse and implementation of good educational practices on a global scale.

Board Member – Pierre Tulowitzki

Professor Pierre Tulowitzki is Chair of Educational Management and School Improvement at the School of Education of the FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland. His research interests revolve around leadership and innovation in schools. In addition to serving as a board member of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI), Pierre Tulowitzki serves as the Link Convenor of the Educational Leadership Network of the European Educational Research Association (EERA).

Pierre Tulowitzki has conducted and presented research on various topics from the realm of educational leadership and school improvement research. He has spoken at numerous conferences and other academic and public engagements. He serves on the editorial board of several international journals (for example Leadership and Policy in Schools, the Journal of Educational Administration and the International Journal of Educational Management). He in addition, he is the co-editor of the Journal für Schulentwicklung, one of the leading German-speaking journals for practitioners.

Company Secretary – Jackie Brien
Executive Director – Andrea Stringer
Minutes Secretary – Magriet Cruywagen

Read about the ICSEI Officers