Major Partners

Western Michigan University
Reading Now Network (RNN)
MAISA-General Education Leadership Network (GELN)

Meet the Entire HIL Project Team

The  HIL Project Team:

  • Supports 76 school buildings and their leaders (and interacts with a control group of an additional 75 schools)
  • Partners with 17 intermediate school districts (ISDs) or educational service agencies (ESAs)
  • Engages 50-160 school district superintendents
  • Collaborates with multiple partners, including professional associations, the Michigan Department of education, business/community groups, and nonprofits

WMU Management Team

 Patricia Reeves, Ph. D. – Project Director and Principal Investigator 

 Jianping Shen, Ph. D.– Co-Project Director and Co-Principal Investigator
Lisa Ryan Lisa Ryan, Ph. D.– Project Assistant Director
 Elizabeth Shaffer – Administrative Assistant 
 Dustin Anderson– Assistant Director of Research

 Von Vanderwiel – Administrative Assistant

WMU Research Support Team

  Najat Elgeberi – Educational  Leadership, Research and Technology Doctoral Assistant

 Yunzheng Zheng – Educational Leadership, Research and Technology Doctoral Assistant

 Huang Wu – Educational  Leadership, Research and Technology Doctoral Assistant

 Jeremy Andrick– WMU Graduate College Doctoral Assistant

 LaSonja Roberts – Educational Leadership, Research and Technology Associate Professor

Coordinator Team

Helps with selection and training of Implementation Facilitators, communication with schools, districts and ISDs, supporting Implementation Facilitators, and working with Partner Team.
 Dr. Dorothy VanderJagt – RNN Field Study Team and iFireUp, LLC

 Derek Wheaton – MEMSPA Leadership Matters and Derek Wheaton Consulting, LLC
 Laurie Schmitt – Allegan ESA Assistant Superintendent
 Diane Talo – St. Joseph ISD Director of Instructional Leadership
Jennifer Sell Dr. Jennifer Sell – Kalamazoo RESA Assistant Superintendent for Instruction

Jan Brown Dr. Janice Brown – Executive Director Emeritus of the Kalamazoo Promise
Kyle Mayer Dr. Kyle Mayer – Ottawa Area ISD Assistant Superintendent
Doug Greer Doug Greer – Ottawa Area ISD Director of School Improvement

Our Facilitators 

“We have fantastic group of facilitators.”

Meet the Facilitators Meet the Partner Team
Participating Schools & ISDs

Our Funders

  • S. Department of Education – Supporting Effective Educator Development Grant Program: $12.5Million Grant Award to WMU for years 1-3 of the HIL Project; $9+Million possible for years 4-5
  • Guido A. and Elizabeth H. Binda Foundation – $240,000 Grant to Ottawa Area ISD for Classroom Libraries in Calhoun County Elementary Schools
  • State of Michigan and Michigan Department of Education, $6 Million Allocation for Early Literacy Coaches in FY2017-18
  • State of Michigan Intermediate School Districts: Matching funding for the State of Michigan Literacy Coach funding
  • Other contributions to Literacy and Leadership Pending

Major Supporters 

(Providing significant in-kind and matching fund support):

  • Allegan Area ESA
  • Kalamazoo RESA
  • Kent ISD
  • Ottawa Area ESD
  • Joseph ISD
  • Van Buren ISD
  • Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators (MAISA)
  • Michigan Association of Middle School Principals (MEMSPA)
  • Talent 2025 of West Michigan
  • Western Michigan University:
    • College of Education and Human Development
    • Department of Educational Leadership, Research, and Technology
    • Graduate College
    • Office of the Vice President for Research

Learn how you can become part of the HIL Project work!

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