Our Team & Partners

Dr. Kerry Englert, phD, President

Dr. Englert has 25 years of experience in education research. Her areas of expertise include psychometrics, program evaluation, quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis, grant and peer review, and educator evaluation systems. She provides consulting and technical assistance on psychometric issues related to state educator evaluation systems and student academic growth. She also serves as a grant and peer reviewer for the Standards, Assessments, and Accountability and the Education Innovation and Research programs at the U.S. Department of Education.

Dr. Englert is honored to serve as a psychometrician on a University of Hawai‘i statewide project to build assessments for Kaiapuni schools (Hawaiian language immersion schools). She supports the construction of an assessments that prioritize the values and worldview of the Hawaiian language community. Simultaneously, she supports the development of technical information necessary to submit the assessment system for U.S. Department of Education peer review.

Dr. Englert is also a consultant for the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Central, where she leads projects for the American Indian Education Research Alliance. Two of her projects focus on supporting state Indian education directors in developing culturally relevant needs assessments that reflect the priorities of Native communities. This work involves developing surveys that measure strengths and challenges in schools serving Native American students. The survey results will help the state education agencies provide focused support to those schools.

Past experience. Dr. Englert worked in research and evaluation for 5 years at McREL International, where she led multiple projects, including a 3-year study on superintendent, principal, and teacher use of statewide assessment data. She also served as principal investigator on a secondary analysis of National Assessment of Educational Progress data, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, in which she examined the impact of teacher quality characteristics on student achievement. Dr. Englert has an established record of turning research results into high-quality, accessible reports, publications, and presentations for a variety of audiences. She has co-chaired a summative assessment committee for the Colorado Department of Education tasked with recommending revisions to the statewide student assessment program.

Education. Dr. Englert earned a doctorate in education research from the University of Colorado, with an emphasis on psychometrics and statistical methodology. She also holds a master’s degree in education from the University of Chicago, with an emphasis on statistics.

Ms. Jessica ALlen, mA, Director of Data and analysis

Ms. Allen has 28 years of experience in education and 13 years of experience in education research. She has expertise in psychometrics, program evaluation, quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis, educator evaluation systems, and program management. Her research work at Seneca Consulting involves psychometric analyses, evaluation design, data collection and analysis, database development and management, and report writing. Ms. Allen also serves as program manager, creating and maintaining project schedules and documenting company and project processes.

Past experience. As program manager at Marzano Research, Ms. Allen managed large-scale research projects by collaborating with project staff and stakeholders and developing project documentation and procedures. She also facilitated federal grant reporting by establishing quality control procedures and writing draft and final grant reports. She also worked as a researcher at Marzano Research and McREL International, conducting advanced quantitative and qualitative analyses for research and evaluation projects. Previously, Ms. Allen served as a principal consultant in the assessment unit at the Colorado Department of Education, where she collaborated with vendors and school districts to manage data collections for large-scale state assessments. Additionally, she helped to develop procedures to ensure the accuracy and quality of data collection, results, and score reports.

Education. Ms. Allen earned a master’s degree in curriculum of instruction from Colorado State University and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Hamilton College. She has also completed doctoral coursework in education research methods.