Matt is currently the Assessment & Accountability Coordinator at School District U-46 in Elgin (2nd largest district in Illinois). Matt manages the testing, research, school improvement planning, program evaluation, and administrator accountability metrics for the district. U-46 serves over 35,000 students from Preschool to grade 12 across 57 schools with ranging diversity.

He began his career teaching at the secondary level. His teaching assignments ranged from high school Spanish, Mathematics, and Middle school ELL Special Education. He earned his bachelor's degree from Illinois State University and his Masters's in Applied Statistics from DePaul University.

Matt has been working in the Assessment and Accountability office since 2013. His core values are increasing transparency for all stakeholders, providing high-quality and accurate information, ensuring equity across all groups, and ethical accountability.

My involvement in NAAD over the past couple of years as President has been both a learning experience and an opportunity to help develop our organization as a relevant resource for today and the future. As Secretary I will work to enhance our various communication streams so we can continue to grow and thrive.

As the Director of Research and Evaluation at Township High School District 214 in suburban Chicago, Jeffrey coordinates district-wide assessment policy and administration of national, state and district testing for 12,000 high school students across six comprehensive high schools, and four alternative education sites.

In his role at THSD214, and as the prior Director of Institutional Research at Ivy Tech Community College-Northeast, Jeffrey supports program and curricular assessment projects for accreditation and process improvement, including the design and implementation of student and staff assessment instruments. At the Missouri Department of Higher Education he was the staff coordinator of the Learning Assessment in Missouri Postsecondary Education (LAMP) advisory councill working with institutional assessment professionals and academic officers at local high schools, community colleges, universities, and the state K-12 board of education to develop assessment policy around Common Core Standards, best practices and benchmark standards for entry, general education, completion, and workforce readiness assessment issues.

Jeffrey has taught courses in Sociology at the University of St. Francis. He is a Ph.D. candidate in Educational Leadership at Concordia University of Chicago and holds an M.A. in Sociology form the University of Notre Dame, a M.Div from Louisville Seminary, and a B.A. in Religious Studies, and Music from William Jewell College.

My hope for NAAD is that the group can lead efforts to take a critical look at the state of assessment and accountability measures in grades Pre-K through 16 to ensure that educational entities are utilizing the best available methods of measurement and accountability for students and teachers. This is important because many schools, in my experience, rely on inadequate and unreliable methods of assessment that may not be revealing the true extent of student learning. As leaders in the assessment field, we must help improve that situation.

Dr. Shane Phillips is the Director of Assessment and Accountability for Lexington County School District One in Lexington, South Carolina. Dr. Phillips holds a B.S. in Secondary Education (English) from The Citadel, an M.Ed. in Instructional Technology, and a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and Measurement, both from the University of South Carolina. His career includes experience as a teacher, coach, technology coordinator, assessment coordinator, and director of assessment and accountability. In his spare time, he enjoys working on his farm and coaching lacrosse.