About the Presenters

Dr. Roland Good is Co-founder of Acadience Learning and an original author of the early literacy assessment DIBELS, now known as Acadience. He earned his doctorate from Pennsylvania State University in school psychology and served two years as a school psychologist. For the past 30 years, Dr. Good and his co-founder Dr. Ruth Kaminski have led the research and development of measures for screening and progress monitoring of early literacy development, culminating in what is known today as the Acadience Reading measures. Dr. Good has provided professional development on these measures to educators and administrators throughout the United States. He has served on editorial boards for School Psychology Review, School Psychology Quarterly, and the Journal of Special Education, and has presented more than 100 papers at national conferences. In 2005, Penn State awarded Dr. Good its Excellence in Education award, in recognition of his contributions to the field of education.

Jason Borges is a literacy leader and specialist. His journey began in teaching over 20 years ago in alternative schools in Massachusetts for students with disabilities. He has served in the Special Education Office in the NYC DOE as Senior Director of Intensive Interventions and Director of Academic Intervention Services in the Office of Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Learning. Jason sees literacy as a foundation for educational justice. He is committed to continue serving NYC DOE schools as Executive Director of NYC Public Schools Literacy Collaborative in developing literacy environments where all students learn skills that will help them engage with and adapt to changing media, contexts, and to use knowledge towards a more just world.

O’Kiyyah Lyons-Lucas is the Principal of Powell Bilingual Elementary School in District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). She began her career as a Teach For America Corps teacher in 2007 at Columbia Heights Education Campus. She spent four years as a teacher before being promoted to an instructional coach position at the school. After serving as an Instructional Coach, O’Kiyyah was promoted to an assistant principal position. She was an Assistant Principal for two years before leaving DC Public Schools to become the Principal of Center City Public Charter School at the Capitol Hill campus. She holds two bachelor’s degrees from North Carolina State University, a master’s degree in teaching and instruction from American University, and a master’s degree in educational leadership and administration from Trinity Washington University.

Alisa Dorman serves as President of Acadience Learning. Her experience as an educator ranges from teaching in elementary and intermediate schools to directing and managing state and federal programs for the Colorado and Oklahoma State Departments of Education. She is the former Vice President of Research and Assessment at Voyager Sopris Learning, a publishing partner of Acadience. For more than 20 years, she has been providing support to educators across the United States on evidence-based instruction and assessment. Alisa holds a Bachelor of Education degree in elementary education with an emphasis in early childhood and master’s in education degrees in both reading and school counseling.

Jermal Riggins is a Literacy Advisor at Wilson Language Training. She graduated from Kennesaw State University earning both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in early childhood education. She is in her 27th year of education, starting her teaching career as a PreK teacher in the West End community of Atlanta before teaching elementary school. In addition to her work in the classroom, Jermal has been grade-level chair, served on School Improvement Leadership Teams, facilitated both school-based and districtwide professional development, and served as a K-8 ELA Content Specialist and Director of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Teaching and Learning with a concentration in Language and Literacy at Georgia State University.