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. His 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.

An expert in school system improvement, professional learning networks, rural education, research-practice partnerships, and out-of-school-time programs and practices, Danette 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. She 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- Chris Chapman

Chair in Educational Policy and Practice (Robert Owen Centre)
Director of Policy Scotland (Social Sciences College Senior Management)

Professor Christopher Chapman was appointed Chair of Education and Public Policy and Practice at the University of Glasgow in January 2013. Prior to this he was Professor of Education at the University of Manchester and previously held academic and research posts at the universities of Nottingham and Warwick. Before moving into academia Chris taught in challenging secondary schools in Birmingham where he undertook a part-time MA before completing his Ph.D thesis on intervention and improvement in schools in challenging circumstances.

Chris’s research interests focus on the interaction between educational policy and practice, specifically in relation to the improvement of educational outcomes in disadvantaged settings. The recurring themes in Chris’s research are accountability, collaboration, equity, leadership, professional learning and organisational/system reform. Chris has undertaken research and evaluation projects for research councils, charities, national and local governments and their agencies. Chris has also led D&R projects with local authorities, schools and teachers to build the capacity for leading and managing change and improving student outcomes.

Board Member – Amanda Datnow

Amanda Datnow is a Professor in the Department of Education Studies and Associate Dean of the Division of Social Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. Her research focuses on educational reform and policy, with a particular interest in issues of equity and the professional lives of educators. Her recent work has involved studies of data use, teacher collaboration, and school transformation. Her current projects have involved interdisciplinary teams engaged in research-practice partnerships. She is deeply committed to positively impacting policy and practice and works closely with local educators and policymakers and with organizations nationally and internationally to achieve this goal. Datnow’s work has been published in leading journals, and she is the author of eight books, including most recently Professional Collaboration with Purpose: Teaching Learning Towards Equitable and Excellent Schools, with V. Park. (2019, Routledge).

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. She 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 – 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. She 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. He 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 – 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.

Early Career Representative – Andrew Wambua

Andrew Wambua is a Kenyan scholar, innovator and social entrepreneur. He sits on the boards of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement (ICSEI) and Journal of Professional Capital and Community (JPCC), and is one of the Co-Founders of Africa Voices Dialogue – an organization that fosters belonging, relationship, connection, courage and inspiration amongst Africa’s learners, educators and communities. Previously, Andrew worked as an educator with schools in Kenya and Germany and as a banker with Equity Group Holdings. His research interests include social networks, school leadership and whole system change. He holds a PhD in Educational Sciences from the University of Heidelberg, Germany.