CAHSEE project members

Skip to content

Who We Are

We are teachers, faculty and staff from the K20 education community, public libraries and nonprofit community technology centers who have worked together to develop and deliver two highly engaging hybrid courses that prepare students across the state for the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). This California Research and Education Network (CalREN) enabled program includes online interactive lessons as well as “face time” with instructors via web based collaboration tools and/or videoconferencing, coupled with local instruction or facilitation to support participating students. The program demonstrates ways technology can enhance student access to quality instruction and improve student learning.

Our Team

Project Leaders

Stephanie Couch, Director Marketing Communications and Outreach

Stephanie currently serves as the Director of Statewide Initiatives for the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California. She also serves half time as Director of Communications, Outreach & Collaboration, for the California Community College System. In this capacity Ms. Couch serves as the director of the K20 California Educational Technology Collaborative. Prior to joining CENIC, Ms. Couch was the Director of Institutional Advocacy in the University of California's Office of the President. Her work on the Collaborative will include:

  • Identify, prioritize, and develop subsequent action plans for developing funding sources
  • Drive program development of the Collaborative as a "business entity". This includes development of sponsors (like State of CA, non-profit foundations, etc.); customers (those who will directly benefit from the project work); and stakeholders (those who might indirectly benefit, e.g., economic development interests)
  • Identify targets of opportunity and prioritize from various segments: participating institutions, government (would-be sponsors), private industry, non-profits, etc.
Doug Cremer, Executive Director, CCC Technology Center

Doug Cremer is currently serving as Executive Director of the CCC Technology Center and California Virtual Campus Projects. His technology team currently manages nine major technology and curriculum development program grants totaling approximately $24 million dollars in annual funding.

Prior to this assignment, Doug served as Director, Information Systems and Institutional Research for Butte College, where he directed the college's highly successful Datatel Colleague Student System implementation.

Before coming to Butte College, Doug served as Director, Information Technology, Merger and Acquisitions, for PECO Energy Company in Philadelphia, PA, where he was responsible for integrating information systems for a number of corporate acquisitions and for the eventual merger between PECO Energy Company and Commonwealth Edison to form Exelon Corporation. His prior background also includes serving in an NRC Senior-Reactor-Operator-licensed position as Shift Operations Manager for one of five operating crews for Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station for PECO Nuclear Group, and service tours in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service, including serving as Commanding Officer, USS BATON ROUGE, a Los-Angeles class, nuclear-powered fast attack submarine.

Doug also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Butte-Glenn United Way is a Senior Examiner for the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Baldrige National Quality Program.

Elizabeth Yeager, Executive Director, LINC & Gevirtz Graduate School of Education

Dr. Beth Yeager is Executive Director of the Center for Literacy and Inquiry in Networking Communities in The Gevirtz School, University of California, Santa Barbara. She provides overall content oversight for the CAHSEE Prep Initiative, is co-leader of the English Language Arts content development team, and co-director of the evaluation research component of the project. Dr. Yeager has almost 38 years of experience in pre-K-20, over 32 of those as a pre-K-12 teacher and teacher researcher in the California public schools. She has developed conceptual and practical models in use for collaborative professional development and grounded, generative curriculum design with both teachers and students using interactive video conferencing. Her research interests are focused on constructing disciplinary knowledge, practice, and academic identities, and, currently, in developing technology-enhanced models that support the construction of disciplinary knowledge and practice as well as professional development. Dr. Yeager is a member of the National Council of Teachers of English and the American Educational Research Association.

Anita Cruse, Associate Professor, English, Santa Barbara City College

Anita Cruse is the co-lead on the English/Language Arts team for the CAHSEE Stepping Into Your Future Project. In addition, she is an on-line instructor for the CAHSEE ELA course. Dr. Cruse has over twenty-five years of experience in the educational system as a classroom teacher, tutor, reading/language arts specialist, university lecturer and researcher. She is currently a full-time instructor in the English Division at Santa Barbara City College, teaching developmental courses in reading and writing in the English Skills Department. Dr. Cruse is a fellow of the South Coast Writing Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara and belongs to several professional organizations devoted to teaching and learning.

Larry Green, Math Professor, Lake Tahoe Community College

Larry Green is the Math lead for the CAHSEE Initiative and Stepping Into Your Future Program. He teaches mathematics both online and traditionally for Lake Tahoe Community College. He is currently serving as the Co-Chair of LTCC's math department and is in charge of the math tutoring center. He is a reviewer on the mathematics team for MERLOT and is past president of the California Mathematics Council Community Colleges (CMC³). Larry is a recently elected Board Member of the Lake Tahoe Unified School District.

Pam Thompson, Project Director

Pamela Thompson currently serves as Project Director for CAHSEE Stepping Into Your Future preparatory program. In her role as Project Director, Ms. Thompson is responsible for orchestrating the myriad of project outcomes and deliverables, from planning and development to implementation and reporting.

Prior to joining CAHSEE Prep, Ms. Thompson worked in professional and nonprofit administration. Ms. Thompson served as executive director and policy analyst for a regional trade association, the Regional Immunization Registry for the California Department of Health Services, the Board of Directors for California Primary Care Association, the Oral Health Access Council and Insure the Uninsured Project. Nationally, she served on the Health Policy and Rural Health committees for the National Association of Community Health Centers, and locally on the Shasta First 5 Advisory Board.

Ms. Thompson's notable accomplishments include bringing 12 northern California counties together to develop a strategy to implement an online registry, creating Regional Immunization Registry for the California Department of Health Services, and integrating telemedicine and technology supported delivery systems among community health centers in rural areas.

Anthony J. DiAngelis, Math Teacher, Los Angeles Unified School District, Adult Division

Anthony J. DiAngelis has served 9 years teaching secondary Mathematics and 7 years teaching Mathematics for DACE before contributing to the CAHSEE Stepping into Your Future Project. In the past year he has acted as Math/Science Teacher Advisor for DACE which entails writing curriculum, promoting various teaching modalities, as well as planning and implementing teacher staff developments, curriculum fieldtrips. Tony worked in an advisory position on the Steps Project.

Judith Green, Professor, Gevirtz Graduate School of Education

Judith Green currently serves as Co-Director of Evaluation for the CAHSEE Stepping Into Your Future Project. In that capacity, Dr. Green coordinates the evaluation team, works with team members to analyze the data collected and supports the development of reports on this project. Dr. Green brings four decades of experience in the PreK-20 educational system as a teacher, a Miller-Unruh reading specialist, a university teacher, and a researcher. In addition to Dr. Green's work with CAHSEE Prep, she serves as Professor of Education and emphasis leader in Teaching and Learning at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Bringing an extensive background in education, Dr. Green held the position of President of the National Conference for Research in Language and Literacy, published 3 books on ethnography and language and more than 100 articles in major research journals on the social construction of knowledge across disciplines, and on research methods; she has been editor of the Reading Research Quarterly and as co-Editor of the Handbook of Complementary Methods of Research in Education (Green, Camilli & Elmore, 2006). She currently serves as editor of the Review of Research in Education (Volumes 30 and 32) for the American Educational Research Association and was Chair of the Research Advisory Committee for AERA. Dr. Green is a Fellow of the American Anthropology Association and the National Conference for Research in Language and Literacy.

Project Team Members

  • Maha Ashour-Abdalla, Director, Center for Digital Innovation, University California, Los Angeles
  • Leticia Barajas, Dean of Academic Affairs, Los Angeles Trade and Technical College
  • Jean Bercham, Center for Digital Innovation, University California, Los Angeles
  • Winston Doby, Emeritus, GSE&IS, University California, Los Angeles
  • Marsha Easterday, Supervisor, Los Angeles Unified School District, Adult Division
  • Nancy Giberson, Assistant Superintendent, Learning Resources & Educational Technology, San Diego County Office of Education
  • David Hammond, Systems Developer, California Community Colleges Technology Center
  • Deborah Harrington, Dean of Instructional Effectiveness/Student Success, Los Angeles Community College District
  • Sarah Hough, Researcher, Gevirtz Graduate School of Education, University California, Santa Barbara
  • Greg Kallemeyn, Center for Digital Innovation, University California, Los Angeles
  • Rob Knight, Math Professor, Evergreen Valley Community College
  • Grace Ko, Lead Coordinator, San Diego County Office of Education, Ed Tech Project
  • Ed Morris, Director, Instructional Services, Los Angeles Unified School District, Adult Division
  • Suzanne Roberts, English Professor, Lake Tahoe Community College
  • David Schriver, Center for Digital Innovation, University California, Los Angeles
  • Harris Shultz, Math Professor, California State University, Fullerton
  • Themistocles Sparangis, Chief Technology Director, Los Angeles Unified School District