Palo Alto School District Announces New Director of Research and Assessment

From Palo Alto Unified School District:

Superintendent Glenn “Max” McGee is pleased to announce he will recommend the appointment of Christopher Kolar as Director of Research and Assessment.

The recommendation will be presented to the Board of Education at the February 10, 2015, regular meeting. Mr. Kolar replaces Dr. Diana Wilmot who accepted a principalship.

Mr. Kolar shared, “I am very excited to join Palo Alto Unified School District and to support the district’s important vision of empowering every student to reach his or her full potential. I am honored and humbled at the prospect of building relationships with principals, faculty professional learning communities, district administrators, and the Board to use data to help move the vision forward.”

Mr. Kolar joins PAUSD from the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) in Aurora, Illinois, where he has served as the Director of Institutional Research and Effectiveness since 2011. Prior to being in this position at IMSA, he held roles as Coordinator of Research and Evaluation and Coordinator of Information and Technology Integration respectively since 2001.

Within these roles, Mr. Kolar led efforts to improve student placement, tracking of student progress, and identifying both academic and psycho-social measures that support individualized learning and student success. Additionally, he designed and implemented IMSA’s Student Data Model and the revised Longitudinal Cohort Study which allowed for data to be collected from long-term alumni and provided for the study of 30 years of institutional outcomes.

Mr. Kolar also assisted department leaders in developing logic models and evaluation plans for their programs. He has also taught education courses, directed partnership efforts, and led technology integration at the university level for several years as well as having held leadership roles in the Illinois Education Research Council, the National Committee for Advancement of STEM Specialty Schools, and the National Association for Gifted Children.

He presents regularly at state and national conferences on the impacts of teacher evaluation and professional development on student outcomes and developing students’ inquiry skills.

He completed his BA in English at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and Masters of Science in Education at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb.

Dr. McGee commented, “Meaningful data is key to determining where support will be most effective and needed to maintain and to improve successful learning practices throughout the District. Mr. Kolar and I worked together for six years, and I can attest that he will bring valuable skills and proven experiences to help sharpen our district’s focus and to improve our effectiveness in identifying promising practices, solving challenging problems, and evaluating new programs. He is a terrific team player who will make important contributions to our district.”

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