Jennifer Parks Email & Phone Number

St. Augustine, Fl, Us

St. Augustine, Fl, Us

Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

Jenny Parks is the Senior Director of Policy and Academic Initiatives at the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC). She leads the exploration, development, and implementation of projects that help Midwestern postsecondary institutions improve the way they serve students academically. Such projects include work to address the shortage of fully credentialed concurrent enrollment instructors and to increase the amount of Open Educational Resources (OER) that are used across the region.

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

As the Director of Innovation I respond strategically and effectively to MHEC’s constituents and the evolving national and regional higher education landscape. I my position I ensure that all ideas and suggestions for new initiatives are assessed in a consistent and transparent manner by maintaining a process and a set of criteria by which ideas and suggestions for new initiatives are examined and explored. By providing relevant information and engaging MHEC leadership, I help ensure the optimal use of MHEC’s resources and talents to address the most critical and strategically significant needs of the Midwestern higher education community and MHEC’s member states. I also serve as a resource to the Operations and Outreach team and the Program Management and Development team.

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

This position leads the development, implementation, management, and oversight of the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA) for the Midwestern region. SARA provides a platform for states within the Midwestern Higher Education Compact to—upon application and demonstration of certain criteria—enter into reciprocity for the purpose of authorizing individual colleges and universities to provide postsecondary education courses and programs through the Internet or via other distance modalities to students living in other states. Four regional SARAs—functioning within the four existing higher education regional interstate compacts—will facilitate reciprocity among willing states within their respective regions. The four regional SARAs will be connected through an inter-regional agreement to create a nationwide reciprocity framework, governed by a national coordinating board and administered by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.More information on many of the SARA Webinars linked below can be found at : http://www.mhec.org/sara-webinars

La Crosse, Wisconsin Area

I am in charge of meeting with faculty and administrators to determine which compliance needs require additional attention and/or have “fallen through the cracks” as the University experienced rapid growth. I then chart a plan for meeting those needs and do as little as coach the Departments themselves on meeting compliance requirements and as much as taking total ownership of certain projects, such as the overhaul and redesign of all FERPA policies, procedures, and practices. In between these extremes, I gather data from other schools, the research literature, UW-System, and compliance colleagues about best practices in all sorts of areas. These areas include requests from the Department of Defense and the Veteran’s Administration, (USDE) Title IV Consumer Information requirements, (USDE) Title III Work Study Waivers, and out-of-state authorization to offer on-line educational programming. I head five committees aimed at developing the best ways to envision and enact institutional improvement, and I create and maintain data bases that help our office track progress toward our compliance goals. In addition to these duties, I also assist the Department of Institutional Research with data analysis and literature reviews, which are used in reporting to internal and external stakeholders. Most recently I have worked with the Department of Student Life to improve the survey they administer to students who withdraw prior to graduating from UW-La Crosse.

La Crosse, Wisconsin Area

• Developed new format for reporting Retention Study data to Board of Trustees which resulted in greater understanding by stakeholders not familiar with the language of statistics and research. Created variable design to implement all retention studies. • Responsible for research concerning compliance with internal and external requirements for institutional data, including federally mandated data as well as national and state level accreditation data. • Overhauling and redesigning School of Education data and assessment system, including redesign of program level rubrics and survey instruments. Worked closely with IT department to improve interface between data collected in hard format and data collected and reported in digital format. Ran workshop on rubric design for School of Education faculty.• Designed methodology and protocol for studying and predicting retention of transfer students. Worked with Director of Research to make decisions about sampling strategies, study design, data collection, and dissemination.

Glendale, Az

• Maintained Excel and SPSS databases of student assessment data for a school district with 25,000+ students. Analyzed data from district wide assessment. Held primary responsibility for data collected to comply with PL 107–110: The No Child Left Behind Act and performed calculations to comply with federal and state mandates. • Analyzed data from semi-annual benchmark assessments for all high school subject areas and conducted workshops with teachers to use that data to improve instruction as well as the assessments themselves. Conducted workshops for teachers to interpret the data from these instruments and improve the instruments as well as instruction. Responsible for analyses guaranteeing internal consistency and validity of items (ran internal r-statistics, etc.). Used Excel Pivot tables to disseminate data prior to the creation of Dashboards.• Designed, implemented, and co-authored major studies of District’s proposed transition to Block Scheduling and introduction of new instructional technologies into certain classrooms; research design was both quantitative and qualitative and included an on-line component. Constructed, validity tested, and administered survey regarding Block Scheduling via internet to all identified stakeholders in the District.

Madison, Wisconsin Area

• Designed and implemented original research of parent involvement in schooling. (Writing sample available). Research included in ERIC national educational research database, and Columbia University Press offered to publish my thesis. Topic: Impact of parental involvement on working lives of teachers.• Collaborated with senior researcher on major study of high schools in Milwaukee, including ethnographic interviewing, analysis and preparation of reports and summaries. Held primary responsibility for statistical data for the project. Topic: Impact of social class of community on working lives of teachers.• Presented at national AERA conference 1997 and interviewed on National Public Radio about my research. Reviewed research, articles, and proposals for AERA and peer reviewed journal (Urban Education).

Verona, Wi

• Designed curricula to be thematic, multicultural, and international in focus; courses included ninth grade U.S. History, tenth grade World History, and interdisciplinary (with science) eleventh and twelfth grade World Geography (a course I initiated at the school).• Areas of professional focus: authentic assessment and school/curricular reform. • Served on committees aiming to improve the school and the district: Multicultural Education Committee, Literacy Task Force, Essential Learner Outcomes Committee, and Gateway Assessment Committee.

Doctor Of Education (Ed.D.)

Master Of Arts (M.A.)

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.)

Education record

Master Of Arts - Ma

Education record