The ThinkLink Team

Jacqueline B. Shrago – Senior Vice President and founder of ThinkLink, leads the Discovery assessment unit.  She has over 25 years in technology-based executive management positions. For four years she has overseen the conception, development, and delivery of ThinkLink's solutions. Working with the Governor, she managed the implementation of the Internet in all of Tennessee's K-12th grade schools. Assuring effective use of the technology, she was responsible for the design of web-based professional development tools used by 20,000 Tennessee teachers. A former teacher, she has served in education technology advisory capacities to the National Governor's Association, Council of Chief State School Officers, and CEO Forum. An entrepreneur, she co-founded a telecommunications company in 1975 that was purchased by NYNEX in 1986 and grew from a start-up to a multi-million dollar enterprise. The education projects received recognition from the National Information Infrastructure and Smithsonian Computer World Awards.

Hardin Daniel –  Director of Educational Assessment: Sales and Development, has been with the company since 2002.  After 10 years as a teacher and principal, Hardin brought his background in education and entrepreneurial experience to ThinkLink. This understanding of both the classroom and the boardroom provides a unique perspective of the education marketplace. He participates in product definition and strategic planning for the company. Hardin received his Masters of Education in 1994 from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. He returned to Vanderbilt in 2002 to complete the Executive MBA program at the Owen School of Business.

Michael K. Smith,  Ph.D, leads our  Research and Psychometrics efforts.  He has over twenty years of experience in developing assessments in a variety of areas, from secondary school teacher certification examinations to selection systems for personnel in business and industry to standardized tests, such as the SAT, ACT, and PSAT. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology in 1984. From 1990-1995, he was Director of the Clearinghouse for Higher Education Assessment Instruments.  He is author of the book Humble Pi: The Role Mathematics Should Play in American Education.  Michael is also Adjunct Faculty at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

William Dycus, Ed.D.– Senior Manager of New Product Development and Alternate Assessment, works with Dr. Smith to research and develop new products and product enhancements. His team coordinates responses to request from districts for customized products and supports those products in their initial year.  William has over 30 years of experience as a classroom teacher, technology coordinator, principal, district administrator, school psychologist, and adjunct professor. He worked for the Tennessee Department of Education to facilitate change in individual schools that were targeted for improvement under NCLB. He retired from his position as Coordinator of Psychology and Special Education with Metro Nashville Public Schools to join the ThinkLink team in 2006.

David Holmes – Lead Architect and Technical Director, has served ThinkLink Learning in this role for 4 years, developing a sophisticated database design to support all online activities, including electronic web-hosted testing. With over 25 years in the research, design, and implementation of software projects, he has developed distributed information systems and initiated software projects across several applications using Java and XML, UNIX operations, and various network protocols. While a member of the original RISQ NOC team at McGill University, he was part of the team that built and ran the Quebec portion of the CA*net. He guides ThinkLink's software development to assure its reliability, security, and functionality for end users with varying levels of technology skill.

Jeff Holmes - D.V.M., Ph.D., Education and Technical Advisor, has served ThinkLink Learning designing and developing software components since its founding. He has developed technology-based programs for over 15 years and conducted a wide range of research in teacher education, cross-cultural learning, and technologies aimed at the K-12 level. With a background in veterinary medicine, Dr. Holmes previously worked at the University of Guelph with Lifelearn Inc., an educational startup focusing on continuing education for practicing veterinarians. After completing a Ph.D. in Educational Technology and Cognitive Psychology at Vanderbilt University he spent three years at the University of California, Berkeley conducting science education research with the WISE group, led by Professor Marcia Linn. Dr. Holmes now works fulltime with ThinkLink Learning and its parent company, Discovery Education.

Betsy Wheeler – Manager of Content Development, works to ensure that ThinkLink’s tests are of a quality and predictability comparable to well-known major test company solutions. She has taught grades K-12 over the course of her 30 years in education. Betsy also served as a librarian and has been recognized for her accomplishments with numerous awards. She managed a multi-year effort for the State of Tennessee to train teachers to incorporate Terra Nova test score information and the use of technology to improve instruction. Wheeler has always been an innovator in the use of technology for instruction and school administration. She received her Bachelor's Degree, Master's Degree, and 45 hours in Library Science from the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Donna Neblett – Manager of Professional Development, is a teacher of teachers. As a twenty year veteran of the classroom, Donna earned Career Ladder III status and became a 21st Century Classroom teacher. She was named Outstanding Educator by the University of Tennessee on three occasions, Milken Educator in 1998, and in 2003 was given the Outstanding Leadership award from Peabody College by Vanderbilt University's Roundtable group. She also worked with the Tennessee Department of Education as a member of the Goals 2000 Task Force, and coordinated the Tennessee Literacy Grant Program which encouraged and trained teachers in the use of technology in the classroom. Donna served as Superintendent of Obion County Schools for four years, where she managed 300 educators and support personnel and supervised the instruction of over 4000 students. With years of refining approaches to guide teachers, today Donna and her team encourage and excite teachers to improve instruction by using formative assessment to gather data to guide instruction.

Amy Bayersdorfer – Manager of Customer Service, has been a vital asset to the company since 2001. Amy oversees a team of customer support staff that works to set up ThinkLink schools and upload answer records into ThinkLink reports, among various other tasks. She is also involved in ThinkLink accounting, shipping, and test finalization. Amy received her Bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University in 2001.

Andrew Mitchell – Manager of Inside Sales, has been a cornerstone in the ThinkLink team since 2002. As a member of the initial ThinkLink sales team, he greatly contributed to the first real success of the company. As a ThinkLink salesperson, Andrew was first to reach $1 million in sales of the Predictive Assessment Series. He received his degree in Business Information Systems from Nashville State in 2005. In that same year, Andrew moved into his current position as Manager of Inside Sales.

Porter Palmer – Manager, Alternate Assessments, works with Dr. Dycus to provide project coordination to alternate assessment projects and customize product in response to district requests.  Porter has implemented standards-based instruction as a teacher of students with disabilities and worked with clients in the development and administration of alternate assessments across multiple states. She has more than a decade of experience teaching, developing and managing alternate assessment projects, and providing professional development and training on standards-based instruction. She joined ThinkLink in 2006.

Steve Elliott, PhD., leads psychometric efforts surrounding alternate assessments for ThinkLink Learning. Steve has authored more than 120 journal articles, 20 books, and 4 widely used behavior-rating scales. He frequently consults with educators on the assessment and instruction of K-12 students and served on the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Education Goals 2000 and Students with Disabilities during 1995-1997. Steve received his doctorate at Arizona State University in 1980 and is a Professor of Special Education and the Dunn Family Chair of Educational and Psychological Assessment in Peabody College at Vanderbilt University.