ERDI Leadership

ERDI Leadership Dr. Michael Kneale Principal Founder and Partner In February, at the 2006 ERDI Winter Conference in San Diego, California, Dr. Mike Kneale announced the appointment of Dr. Paul J. Dulle as the new president & CEO of The Education Research & Development Institute. Dr. Kneale had led the Institute since its inception in 1985 to become an unparalleled provider of dynamic partnerships between the finest K-12 superintendents of schools and business executives in the country. The Institute’s business-education partnerships have served literally hundreds of corporate clients during the last two decades under Dr. Kneale’s leadership. Dr. Kneale’s contributions as an educational leader have had a profoundly positive impact on K-12 education in America. Dr. Kneale stepped down as President/CEO due to health reasons but committed his continuing support as a partner in the work of the Institute in the future. Dr. Paul J. Dulle President & CEO Dr. Dulle is a former ERDI consulting member who participated in the work of the Institute for 10 years and served as the chair of the ERDI Advisory Board in the early 1990’s. Dr. Dulle left ERDI to become President & CEO of United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Chicago, a position he has held since 1993. Though becoming CEO of a non-profit health care organization, Dr. Dulle never left education. As President/CEO of UCP of Greater Chicago, Dr. Dulle and his team developed an assistive technology program called Infinitec (Infinite Potential Through Technology) that serves more than 1,600 schools in Illinois and nearly 800 schools in Kansas, and provides technology support to more than 1.5 million students. Infinitec provides equipment, training, information and access to technology expertise to benefit learners who require assistive technology and universal design support. Infinitec also supports teachers, related services professionals, and families. Dr. Dulle began his career in 1969 as a special education teacher in St. Louis County and has served in numerous positions in education including building principal, regional supervisor of educational programs, associate superintendent, and executive director of a Special Education Cooperative in Chicago’s southwest Cook County suburbs. He received his Doctoral Degree from St. Louis University and is affiliated with Illinois State U. SEAT Advisory Committee, Infinitec Southwest (formerly Southwest Cooperative Foundation), United Cerebral Palsy (UCPA), the RAMP UP Foundation, Illinois Career Path Institute, and Loyola University Chicago, School of Education Advisory Board. Please click here to Contact Dr. Dulle Rudy M. Castruita, Ed.D. Senior Advisor Dr. Rudy M. Castruita has been a dynamic force in the field of education for 39 years. He served as the San Diego County Superintendent of Schools for 12 years. Prior to that, he was Superintendent of the Santa Ana Unified School District. Dr. Castruita’s accomplishments in school reform have been recognized throughout the educational community, garnering him numerous awards and accolades for his dramatic reform efforts and for raising student achievement in low-wealth school districts. He was named California’s Superintendent of the Year, and he has received the Marcus Foster Award from the California Association of School Administrators, that organization’s highest honor. Because of his success in producing National Blue Ribbon Schools and State Distinguished Schools, Dr. Castruita was asked to be the National Blue Ribbon Schools trainer and evaluator. He was recently named one of 12 “Tech Savvy Superintendents” in the nation by E-School News. Dr. Castruita has taken an active role among educational leaders. He has served as past-president of the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA) and the California Urban Superintendents. He currently serves on the State Superintendent’s Advisory Committee for Implementing the Public School Accountability Act of 1999, the Governance Task Force of the state committee to develop a Master Plan for Education, the California Reading First Initiative Leadership Team, and was chair of the statewide Language Arts Task Force to Develop Standards for High School Graduates. Most recently, Dr. Castruita was appointed to the State’s Legislative Blue Ribbon Commission on Autism by the State’s Legislators. Dr. Castruita serves on several national boards including Scholarship America, the prestigious Educational Research & Development Institute, and the Board for Harvard’s Urban Superintendent Program. Recently, Dr. Castruita was nominated by the President of the United States, and appointed by the United States Secretary of Education Margaret Spelling, to serve on the President’s Advisory for Department of Defense Schools for military based schools overseas. In Dr. Castruita’s capacity as the University of Southern California Irving & Virginia Melbo Chair for the Rosier School of Education, he brings relevant urban reform strategies and leadership experience to the doctoral program at the Dr. Castruita is known for his public speaking engagements that have taken him to Cornell, Columbia, and Harvard universities, University of California, Berkeley, and his alma mater, the University of Southern California; and he is frequently asked to deliver keynote addresses at major events sponsored by a wide variety professional organizations. Barbara Byrd-Bennett Senior Advisor Barbara is an Executive in Residence at Cleveland State University. She is an experienced educator, supervisor, administrator and researcher of public urban education. She began her career with the New York City Board of Education where she taught at the elementary and high school level. In New York City, she also served as a school principal and the Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Development. She has been an adjunct professor at Malcolm King College in Harlem, City College in New York City, the College of New Rochelle and Fordham University. Barbara served as superintendent Crown Heights/Flatbush School District in Brooklyn, New York where she is credited with reestablishing order and instructional focus during an “administrative takeover” of the troubled district. Prior to that, she was the Supervising Superintendent of the Chancellor’s District in New York City, responsible for the direct oversight of the lowest performing schools in the New York City Public school system where she is credited with dramatic improvements in student achievement. She left New York City to accept the appointment by then Mayor Michael R. White to serve as the first Chief Executive Officer of the largest school district in the State of Ohio…the Cleveland Municipal School District. Barbara Byrd-Bennett is a member of numerous boards, commissions and advisory councils, including the United States Department of Education National Assessment Governing Board; the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards; the Education Commission of the States’ National Center for Education Accountability; the Ohio Governor’s Commission on Student Success; the Commission of governors’ Blue Ribbon Task Force on Financing Student Success and a member of the board of directors for the Albert Shanker Institute and the transition teams for the Governor of Ohio and New York state. She served as the President of the Urban Superintendents’ Association of America. Barbara is the recipient of numerous local, state and national honors including the Council of Greater City Schools 2001 Urban Superintendent of the year. Her passion for education stems from one relentless goal: success for each child in each classroom in each school.

Education Research & Development Institute (ERDI)
15447 Gougar Road
Lockport, IL 60491
Phone: (815) 588-1112
Fax: (815) 588-1184
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