Course Authors

Margaret Heritage, Senior Scientist at WestEd, has led the curriculum, instruction, and formative assessment strand at the Center for Standards and Assessment Implementation at WestEd. Formerly an assistant director at the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, & Student Testing (CRESST) at UCLA, Heritage has worked on data use, formative assessment, the assessment of English language learners, and teacher evaluation. In addition, she has worked extensively with states in the area of standards and assessment. Current professional activities include membership of the advisory boards for several IES and NSF funded projects on formative assessment and leading the Formative Assessment State Collaborative of the Council of Chief State School Officers. Heritage is widely published; her latest book, Formative Assessment in Practice: A Process of Inquiry and Action, and her co-authored book, English Language Learners and the New Standards, are published by Harvard Education Press.

Nancy Gerzon is a Senior Research Associate at Learning Innovations at WestEd. Gerzon’s work supports education leaders to improve policy and develop systemic approaches to using data to support increased student learning. For over ten years she has led professional development and leadership coaching to support schools and districts to implement inquiry teams, professional learning communities, and data teams. She has trained school-based literacy and math coaches to help teachers implement classroom formative assessment practices, including supporting teachers to gather and use evidence during the learning process and using daily classroom data to guide instructional change. Nancy is a co-author, with Sonia Caus Gleason, of Growing into Equity: Professional Learning and Personalization in High-Achieving Schools, which documents case studies of four high achieving Title 1 schools and outlines principles of teacher support, leadership, and systems that contributed to significant improvements in student learning.