About Us

Core Knowledge Group | Selection Criteria
Matthew Scelza | Andy Nash | Tom Mueller

Core Knowledge Group

Pam Etre-Perez is the Adult Basic Education coordinator at the University of New Mexico - Valencia Campus and a 2000-2001 National Institute for Literacy fellow. Since 1978, Pam has been teaching adult ESL classes, administering programs, training teachers, and developing curricula and materials. Her interests are student leadership and literacy, and her current research with immigrant women involves the relationship between learning English and living in rural NM.

Rebecca Foster currently teaches advanced ESOL to Spanish speaking learners who meet in her home. Previously she taught both beginning and intermediate ESOL at an adult education center in south Providence. Prior to teaching ESOL, she served as Associate Director of the Rhode Island Service Alliance managing and evaluating the state’s AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America portfolio. She has also worked extensively in Latin America, Asia and Africa on projects ranging from rural education in Mexico (through the Inter-American Development Bank) to assistance for AIDS orphans in Thailand (through CARE International). She has a Masters Degree in Public Affairs from Princeton University.

Roger Hooper is Director of the Massachusetts ABE Distance Learning Project, sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Education through the Adult Literacy Resource Institute at the University of Massachusetts
(Boston). Previously he was administrator and teacher in elementary and secondary schools and in adult basic education centers., His work currently centers on researching supports necessary for basic skills
learners receiving ESOL and adult secondary education instruction through video and computer-based distance education.

Janet Isserlis, Project Director of Literacy Resources/Rhode Island, has worked with adult refugee, immigrant and ABE learners, and with intergenerational literacy programs in the US and Canada since 1980. She has worked as a classroom teacher, teacher educator, materials developer and program evaluator. Since 1997 she has maintained a website for Literacy Resources/Rhode Island.

Martha A. Lane is an adult literacy consultant specializing in church-based and library-based literacy and ESL programs. Since 1966 she has been involved as a trainer, curriculum writer, tutor and program evaluator. She is Director of Literacy Services for United Methodist Cooperative Ministries, St. Petersburg, FL and is consultant to a number of computer-assisted and Internet-based ESL projects.

Diana Satin teaches ESL and computers/ESL at the Jamaica Plain Community Center's Adult Learning Program in Boston, MA. She also performs staff development workshops. She has an MA in Intercultural Relations with a specialization in Teaching ESL.

Lynda Terrill is User Services Coordinator at the National Center for ESL Literacy Education (NCLE) at the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, DC. She answers queries from teachers, learners, and program administrators related to adult ESL; provides technical assistance around the country on a variety of topics; and updates, adapts, and develops NCLE’s Web site. She has over 22 years of experience teaching with both native and nonnative speakers of English in many venues. She is co-author of Collaborations as well as ERIC digests on adult English language learners and learning disabilities, civics, classroom management for multilevel adult ESL classes, and working with literacy level adult English language learners.

Gail Weinstein is Professor of English at San Francisco State University specializing in TESOL, Adult Education and Family Literacy. She currently directs a community-service learning project called SHINE, Students Helping in the Naturalization of Elders, to promote civic engagement among university students and immigrant learners. Selected books include "Learners' Lives as Curriculum: Six Journeys to Immigrant Literacy" and "Immigrant Learners and their Families: Literacy to Connect the Generations" (both by CAL/Delta Systems); as well as textbooks for adult ESL learners, "Stories to Tell our Children" and "Collaborations" (Heinle & Heinle).

Lynne Weintraub is the coordinator of the Jones Library ESL Center, and the author of "Citizenship: Passing the Test," "Ready for the Interview," and "Citizenship Navigator." She has worked in the areas of ESOL/literacy, refugee education, & staff and curriculum development for over twenty years.