West GREAT Center Trainers
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Esther. G. Garza
Esther has been working in the area of holistic assessment and training since 1999. She has
conducted workshops and conference presentations for teachers, administrators and school board
members in the knowledge of educational assessment. She has worked closely with CTB/Mc Graw-Hill
Evaluation Consultants and District managers in Language Assessment Scales training inquiries,
scoring issues and various other customer service inquires. She is well versed on educational
assessment marketing, state and federal laws and regulations, business procedures that included
project design and analysis. She has authored various educational materials, including teacher
guides, test assessments and evaluations. She is a qualified TABE (Test of Adult Basic Education)
9 & 10 trainer.
Donnie (Don) E. Malone
Donnie (Don) E. Malone is a teacher trainer. He is actively involved with
Adult Basic Education for 7 years now. His areas of expertise include: Adult
and Community Education System (ACES) training; which he has been providing
training sessions from 1999, Basic English Skill Test
(BEST Plus) and Texas
Education for Adults Management System (TEAMS) trainings as of 2005. He has
been in adult education for Region 16 ESC Adult ED for 3 years and an ACES
data-entry specialist for 7 years.
Mr. Andres Muro
Mr. Muro has over 18 year of experience working in adult education and literacy
both as a teacher, program developer, and program administrator. He has been
the Manager of the El Paso Community College’s Community Education Program
for the last nine years. Some of the programs that he has developed, implemented,
and administered are: the Success Through Transitional English Program
(STEP),
funded by the US Department of Education; the Preparation for Success Program,
funded by a discretionary Carl Perkins grant; the Barbara Bush Family LEAD
program; the Laubach Health Literacy Project; The Pfizer Health Literacy El
Paso Project; the Fannie Mae Foundation Home Ownership Literacy Program; and
the Education for Economic Independence Program, funded by the US Department
of Health and Human Services.
Mr. Muro is actively involved in the field of literacy. He has presented at multiple national conferences including Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Commission of Adult Basic Education (COABE), American Association of Adult and Continuing Education, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Migrant Education and National Association Developmental Education. He was also a member of the National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and literacy’s Impact Assessment advisory group.
Susan Pittman
In 1985, Susan moved from the special
education field to adult education and began a career that has become her passion.
For 16 years, Susan worked first as a teacher then a district level administrator
in Palm Beach County Public Schools in Florida. From GED teacher to GED Chief
Examiner, Susan has had the opportunity to work in all areas of adult education
and continues to be a strong advocate for increasing accountability while ensuring
that the student is the number one priority. As the Manager of Adult Education
programs for the school system, Susan was responsible for programs that
served more than 35,000 students annually in 30 locations around the county.
In 1999, Susan left the school system to start her own educational consulting firm, E-Learning Connections, Inc. In 2001, Susan was selected as one of the national trainers for the implementation of the 2002 Series GED Tests by the US DOE and the GED Testing Service. As a trainer and developer of curriculum and training activities, she has provided professional development for adult and alternative education teachers and administrators in 15 states. Today, Susan works with teachers and administrators in Florida, Texas, Michigan, and Missouri developing and delivering high quality, interactive professional development geared to meet the needs of students, teachers, and program managers.
Ann Savino
Ann Savino has worked in literacy and workforce development for fifteen years.
Since 1990, she has worked as an educator, trainer, and consultant for integrating
technology in basic skills instruction in Texas and Arizona for youth and limited
English proficient adults. She was a co-developer for the National Workplace
Literacy Grant Workplace curriculum (The Cutting Edge: Workplace English) and
served as the Project Director for the Workplace Literacy Training and Technical
Assistance Grant that provided teacher training in Texas to adult educators
integrating workforce development in the ESL and ABE classroom.
Barbara Tondre-El Zorkani
has been involved in
adult education and workforce development for more than twenty-five years.
In addition to having worked in the state office for four years, she has
worked as an instructor, a program administrator, and as liaison to business
and industry. She has taught EFL, ESOL, ESP, Workforce ESOL, English, and
German on four continents. Barbara is the author of Planning Literacy
and Language Services for Texas’ Limited English Proficient Workers, and
is co-author and facilitator of Tennessee’s ESOL in the Workplace statewide
training initiative. Currently, she works as an independent consultant, trainer,
writer, and researcher in adult education initiatives in Texas, Oklahoma,
Tennessee, and Minnesota.
Claire Valier
Claire Valier is the Adult ESOL Coordinator with the School District of Palm
Beach County which has over 25,000 ESOL students with 450 instructors. She has
taught and been an administrator in the K thru Adults ESOL programs for over
27 years. Claire was the Program Manager of Project Transition, a grant from
Children and Families that provides educational and vocational opportunities
to eligible refugees. She also does extensive teacher training in the area of
adult ESOL for Crossroads Café, On Common Ground and Madison Heights
/ Lifelines in numerous states. She has co-authored a book, Counseling Activities
for Life Skills and Career Development, a comprehensive resource of ready
to use lessons and reproducible student activities. Currently, Claire is working
with the states of Florida and Michigan providing adult ESL training for instructors
along with Implementation Training for Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment
System (CASAS).
Lesvia (Les) Vela
Lesvia (Les) Vela has been involved in the teaching profession for more
than thirty years. She has taught at the elementary, high school and university
level. In addition to having worked as a Director of Federal Programs/C&I
at the Presidio ISD, she has worked as an elementary bilingual teacher
and principal, instructional program consultant/evaluator, supervisor
of pilot programs, project coordinator/consultant, and an Adjunct Professor.
She has taught bilingual/ESL, Spanish for ESL Teachers, Second Language
Acquisition, Spanish Reading and Language Arts in several states including
Texas, Missouri, Ohio, and Michigan. She has conducted many workshops
in the area of at-risk, Migrant Education, Bilingual/ESL, parental involvement,
early childhood, assessment and accreditation/compliance. Currently she
works as an independent BEST Plus Trainer in Adult Education initiatives
in Texas.
Bonnie Vondracek
In 1981, Bonnie moved from teaching music to working with severely disturbed
adolescents and began a career that has consistently focused on the challenges
of providing quality education to students who have often experienced failure
more than success. During her tenure in the Osceola County Public Schools in
Florida, Bonnie moved from the classroom to administration, but never left
the classroom far behind. Her innovative management style kept her close to
teachers and students ensuring that no opportunities were missed and that challenges
were addressed and resolved.
In 1999, Bonnie left the school system to establish her own consulting firm, Vondracek Enterprises, Inc. that focuses on the development and presentation of staff development and training. An avid researcher, Bonnie ties her own personal experiences from the classroom and administration to the latest research on best practices. Bonnie was selected as one of the national trainers for the implementation of the 2002 Series GED Tests by the US DOE and the GED Testing Service. Today, Bonnie develops and delivers high-quality, highly interactive training for teachers and administrators in adult, alternative, and vocational education programs in a wide range of states and through government agencies, such as the Department of Labor, Job Corps programs.
Paula Wojtek
Paula Wojtek has been an administrator with Co-op 48 Adult Basic Education
since June, 1989, when she was hired as the SLIAG supervisor. She has served
as an ESL Coordinator, Learning Center, Administrator, and Co-op Director.
She has been actively involved in ACES since its inception. Ms. Wojtek
trains the teachers in her Adult Education Program to use information from
ACES and locally developed reports to help insure performance measures are
being met. Ms. Wojtek’s implementation of continually successful ACES
training sessions, brought about Co-op 48 ABE to be recognized for having
met all 2003/04 performance measures. In addition, due to Ms. Wojtek’s
efforts, Howard College San Angelo received a commendation letter from U.S.
Representative Michael Conaway for “Outstanding Programmatic
Performance” in the Adult Education Program.
