The National At-Risk Education Network

Advisory Council Members

Joe Clark

Joe was the source of the story for the 1989 movie Lean On Me starring Morgan Freeman as a bullhorn-toting principal of a New Jersey east-side high school. Today he speaks regularly around the country on at-risk education and is the Director of the Essex County Juvenile Detention Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Jerry Conrath

Author of numerous books on discouraged learners, Jerry has 20 years of public school teaching experience and has helped organize and direct two schools-within-schools for at-risk kids. Jerry is now retired, but still active doing conference speaking and offering the Our Other Youth Seminars, which he founded.

Marcus Gentry

For more than 20 years Marcus has worked as a professional in the field of social services. He began his career in a locked, co-ed residential facility for aggressive adolescents in Chicago. From there, he supervised workers in a co-ed, detox unit for chemically dependent adults. After that, he was afforded the opportunity to identify and counsel youth at-risk for substance abuse in Cook county alternative schools. His last position was the substance abuse coordinator for Cook County, where he provided assessments and counseling services to the residents of public housing from preteen to senior citizens.

David Johnson, PhD

David W. Johnson is a Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota where he holds the Emma M. Birkmaier Professorship in Educational Leadership. He is Co-Director of the Cooperative Learning Center. He received a masters and a doctoral degree from Columbia University. He is a past-editor of the American Educational Research Journal. He has published over 350 research articles and book chapters. He is the author of over 40 books (most co-authored with R. Johnson) including:

• The Social Psychology of Education
• Social Psychology: Issues and Insights
• Reaching Out: Interpersonal Effectiveness and Self-Actualization
• Joining Together: Group Theory and Group Skills
• Learning Together and Alone: Cooperative, Competitive, Individualistic Learning
• Productive Conflict Management: Perspectives for Organizations
• Circles of Learning: Cooperation in the Classroom
• Teaching Students To Be Peacemakers
• Creative Controversy: Intellectual Challenge in the Classroom
• Cooperation and Competition: Theory and Research
• Active Learning: Cooperative Learning in the College Classroom
• Meaning & Manageable Assessment Through Cooperative Learning
• Learning To Lead Teams: Developing Leadership Skills

Roger Johnson, PhD

Roger Johnson has been the recipient of several national awards including the Research Award in Social Studies Education presented by the National Council for the Social Studies, the Helen Plants Award from the American Society for Engineering Education, the Gordon Allport Intergroup Relations Award from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (Division 9 of the American Psychological Association), the Alumni of the year award from Teachers College, Ball State University, and the Outstanding Contribution to Research and Practice in Cooperative Learning award from the American Educational Research Association Special Interest Group on Cooperative Learning.

Roger is currently the co-director of the Cooperative Learning Center at the University of Minnesota, which conducts research and training nationally and internationally on changing the structure of classrooms and schools to a more cooperative environment.

Richard (Rich) Kunkel, PhD

Richard C. Kunkel serves as the Dean of the College of Education and Professor at Florida State University. He assumed that position in July 2001. Kunkel was the Wayne T. Smith Distinguished Professor Educational Leadership and Dean of Education at Auburn University's College of Education from January 1, 1990 through June 2001.

Rich Kunkel was elected to the Board of Directors of the Holmes Group and in 1998 was appointed to Holmes Partnership as Executive Director. The Holmes Partnership is a national organization of leading research universities in partnership with local schools and organizations in cooperation to improve student performance. Kunkel was also appointed to the National Research and Evaluation Advisory Panel of Teach for America and he served as the facilitator for the Disney Development Corporation's Celebration School Visioning Workshop as well as senior advisor to the Celebration School and Teaching Academy. In 1997, he testified at hearings on "The Higher Education Act" and later served as a proposal reader in preliminary and final selection of grants for school/university partnerships under Title II of the Higher Education Act.

Previously, Kunkel served as Executive Director of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Evaluation (NCATE) beginning in 1984. Prior to this position, Kunkel served as Dean of the College of Education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Kunkel chaired the Department of Education at St. Louis University and served as Assistant to the President. Earlier he held a faculty position in Curriculum and Instruction at Ball State University and in the Burris Laboratory School at the institution. He began his career in education as a high school social studies teacher and later served as a counselor and administrator.

Rick Osterhaus

Rick is the assistant superintendent of Brown Deer School District near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He has many years of public school teaching and administrative experience. Rick is the current CEO and President of Ablenet, Inc. in the Twin Cities. Rick is the former assistant superintendent of Brown Deer School District near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He has many years of public school teaching and administrative experience.

Larry Rosen, EdD

Larry is president of Educational Designs Group, a professor at Stetson University and a Faculty Associate at Johns Hopkins University. He has more than 28 years experience in teaching and administration in K-12 schools, human service organizations, community colleges and universities. Most notably, Larry spent four years on full-time assignment with the Walt Disney Corporation developing educational designs.

Franklin Schargel

Franklin Schargel, a native of Brooklyn, New York now residing in Albuquerque, NM, is a graduate of the University of the City of New York. Franklin holds two Masters Degrees: one in Secondary Education from City University and a degree from Pace University in School Administration and Supervision. His career spans thirty-three years of classroom teaching and eight years of supervision and administration as Assistant Principal. In addition, Franklin taught a course in Dowling College's MBA Program.

Franklin is the author of 4 very pertinent books:

• Transforming Education Through Total Quality Management: A Practitioner's Guide
• Strategies to Help Solve Our School Dropout Problem
• Dropout Prevention Tools
• Helping Students Graduate: A Strategic Approach to Dropout Prevention