Team
Jason Willoughby
Jason is the Founder and Chief Academic Officer of Leverage Learning Group, Inc. He is an award winning elementary and secondary teacher and administrator. Jason has worked for the past two decades coaching teachers, coaches, principals, and district administration in all aspects of school reform. He works directly with districts and schools all over the nation in the system-wide development, implementation, and analysis of standards-based curriculum, instruction, and assessments. Jason’s extensive experience provides him with the insight that enables him to be a dynamic teacher, speaker, and leader of educational reform.
James Costello
James began his career in education as a special education teacher in K-8 classrooms. James transitioned to high school where he also served as department chair. In 2009, James’ team achieved the second highest growth in the state of California. In 2015, James joined the LLG team and works with a variety of school systems helping some recover from nearly closing the doors to others who are “high performing” but stagnant in growth. James is well known for his success in coaching all levels in an organization and in planning and facilitating with a growth-mindset. Educators who turn to James know they are getting a results-driven consultant who works with them to develop and implement practical solutions. James was twice awarded “Educator of the Year” wand was honored for his excellence in coaching educators.
Judy Kanter
Judy A. Kanter taught grades 7-12 in English, Social Studies, Drama, and Spanish in the San Juan Unified School District (SJUSD), Sacramento California, for 24 years. During the last 14 years of her teaching career, she began extra work in assessment. In 1986, she functioned as the assessment director for all disciplines in the SJUSD.
Judy began her professional experiences as a scorer, table leader, and eventually a chief reader for several California large-scale assessments. They included the California Achievement Program (CAP), the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS), and the California Golden State Examination (GSE). She became a writing prompt (and item) writer as the director of the GSE Writing Assessment. In 2000, Judy worked as the English-language Arts director of the California High School Exit Examination (CHSEE) at the American Institutes for Research (AIR).
In 2003, Judy became a chief reader for several teacher certification programs for National Evaluation Systems (NES), which currently is owned by Pearson. Since that time, Judy has played a leadership role in writing and revising items, and she developed grade K-12 writing prompts for several educational firms, including Action Learning Systems and Leverage Learning. During her involvement at these firms, she conducted many item-writing workshops. She currently continues working as a director of ELA and social studies assessments for Pro-Core, an Ohio educational firm. She is working on a new writing assessment in which all levels of writing are steps to create a final essay.
Sharon McCreight
I have a Masters in Reading, an Administrative Preliminary Credential, 20 years of teaching and coaching experience in Long Beach Unified School District, as well as over 10 years of Professional Development experience in the public and private sector. I have worked as adjunct Professor for Alder Graduate School of Education, supporting new teachers in their journey as educational leaders, and as a Capacity Building Coach, leading coherent cycles of continuous improvement, helping school sites and leadership teams to reflect upon their practices as instructional leaders within a context of equitable best practices for student engagement and ultimately, student success. With an emphasis on ELLs and early literacy, I have spent the past few years supporting teacher teams, K – 12, in the implementation of literacy standards for Reading, Writing, Language, and Speaking & Listening.
Stacey Stewart
Stacey Stewart, a visionary leader, with a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, coupled with 22 years of leadership experience in six school districts and two states at the elementary and secondary level leading students and educators to improve student outcomes. Stacey has served as a Teacher, Assistant Principal, Principal, Director, and Assistant Superintendent.
Stacey’s educational experiences have afforded her the opportunity to collaborate with diverse groups of people to meet the common goal of increasing student achievement and well-being. Stewart’s educational philosophy is based on her uncompromising belief that all students can learn given a safe, supportive, collaborative and engaging learning environment. Stacey is an instructional leader with the reputation of transforming every school and district with which she has served. During Stacey’s tenure as a Principal, Director, and Assistant Superintendent her schools and districts experienced significant academic and attendance gains leading to CBEE, STAR, AVID Showcase School, CSBA Golden Bell, and Model SARB honors. Stacey is passionate about establishing continuous improvement systems in which data-based problem solving and decision making is practiced across all levels and supporting school and district teams with high quality instruction, evidence-based practices, and tiered support for academic, behavioral, and social emotional learning.
Stacey’s educational experiences have afforded her the opportunity to collaborate with diverse groups of people to meet the common goal of increasing student achievement and well-being. Stewart’s educational philosophy is based on her uncompromising belief that all students can learn given a safe, supportive, collaborative and engaging learning environment. Stacey is an instructional leader with the reputation of transforming every school and district with which she has served. During Stacey’s tenure as a Principal, Director, and Assistant Superintendent her schools and districts experienced significant academic and attendance gains leading to CBEE, STAR, AVID Showcase School, CSBA Golden Bell, and Model SARB honors. Stacey is passionate about establishing continuous improvement systems in which data-based problem solving and decision making is practiced across all levels and supporting school and district teams with high quality instruction, evidence-based practices, and tiered support for academic, behavioral, and social emotional learning.
Sharon Wright
Sharon Wright is an educational leader with 20 years of teaching & learning, school administration, and coaching experience. She has had successful experience in curriculum management, professional development, and in-service design and delivery. Her passion is in empowering individuals and teams to leverage their passion, knowledge, and excellence to achieve progressive learning outcomes and instructional effectiveness that benefit all students. Sharon is a relational leader and believes relationships matter, people matter…Every day, every child, every person! Her ability to cultivate, nurture, and maintain relationships within school communities across California has been an asset in supporting positive school and workplace cultures for all stakeholders.
Join the team
Leverage Learning Group is always looking for amazing educators and leaders to join our team. If you believe in students FIRST and have a passion for teaching and learning, please reach out to us at info@leveragelearninggroup.com
and let us know how amazing you are!