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Management Team
Thomas P. Jandris, Ph.D. – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Jandris is an educator and business person with a wide range of experience. He most recently started Progress Education Corporation to offer staff development, school improvement planning, policy consulting, and a line of proprietary technology based learning management tools to teachers, schools, districts, and states. Just prior, he served as the President of EDmin, Inc., a company that develops technology solutions to empower performance management in public education. Other private sector, education experience includes founding and managing Fox River Learning and serving as CEO of HOSTS Corporation and Education World. Prior to his service to EDmin, he served as the lead consultant to the Governor of Michigan and the Mayor’s Office in Detroit during the reform takeover of the Detroit Public Schools. He was also asked by Governor Bush and Commissioner Gallagher in Florida to help draft the enabling legislation to implement a constitutional amendment to restructure the governance of Florida’s entire education system. Additional work is focused on designing and planning comprehensive performance management systems for urban school districts. Dr. Jandris served as advisor to the President, Secretary of Education, and Department of Education (DOE) on the drafting, passage, and implementation of NCLB.
In his capacity as Director of State Services for the Education Commission of the States (ECS), Dr. Jandris and his team were the policy consultants and technical advisors to the Nation’s governors, legislators and other education leaders. In his role as Director, Dr. Jandris was the chief architect and leader of the Urban Coalition and Corporate Partners Programs at ECS. While with ECS, Dr. Jandris also directed the three-year, national study of the Governance of America’s Schools.
Prior to his tenure at ECS, Dr. Jandris had extensive careers in both education and the private sector. He was a teacher, principal, director of Secondary Education and Superintendent at a large urban district. Dr. Jandris is currently an Adjunct Professor at the National Louis University’s National College of Education where he teaches graduate courses in educational foundations, educational research, group theory, curriculum, and instruction: theory and design, cross-cultural education, curriculum, analysis and applications, field study, human development/learning and educational supervision. He was recently named to the faculty of Nova Southeastern University as a Professor. He founded and grew a highly successful human resources consulting company. He is a past U.S. Olympic Team member and syndicated columnist.
Dr. Jandris is a licensed psychologist who continues to teach at the graduate level. His education includes a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, an M.Ed. from Wayne State and a B.S. in Education from Eastern Illinois University.
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David M. Farschon – Chief Operations Officer
Mr. Farschon has an extensive background in designing technology solutions to meet the needs of education clients. Many of these solutions are being utilized by the nation’s largest school districts. Prior to Progress he served as the Director of Product Development for EDmin.com from 1998-2003 where he was instrumental in the original development, product launch, training, and support of Virtual EDucation. In 2001, he designed an online IEP program to meet the needs of school districts in Hillsborough County, FL and Jefferson County, CO. Mr. Farschon was also responsible for designing an integrated solution between Microsoft’s Class Server and EDmin’s Virtual EDucation System. He holds a MS in Technology Management and a MBA from National University in San Diego, CA.
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Kathleen S. Fritch – Chief Business Development Officer
Ms. Fritch has an extensive background working with districts, educational service centers, state departments and other educational entities in assisting them in designing, acquiring & implementing assessment and accountability solutions. Prior to Progress, she served as Director of Virtual EDucation at EDmin.com where she played an integral role in the implementation, training, and account management of several of the nation’s largest school districts, including School District of Hillsborough County, FL, Cobb County, GA, and Montgomery County Public Schools, MD. A former educator, Ms. Fritch has been instrumental in assisting educational organizations across the country in providing educators with student performance data in order to improve student achievement.
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Donald E. Beers, Ed.D.- Executive Director of Progress Education Institute, President, Progress Analytics Institute
Dr. Beers is a life long educator with a variety of experiences at the district, state, and national levels. His latest position, prior to joining Progress Education, was Deputy Superintendent of the Cobb County School District in suburban Atlanta. Don also served as the Deputy Superintendent for Instruction in Charleston, South Carolina. These are both major urban/suburban districts that had progressive agendas serving diverse student populations. In both districts, Dr. Beers leveraged budget alignment, organizational structure, technology, professional development, and curriculum alignment to change the landscape of teaching while faced with severe budget constraints. Dr. Beers started his career as a 7th grade science teacher, high school assistant principal, and elementary school principal.
Dr. Beers also served as Director of Development for the National Association of Secondary School Principals and Executive Director of the South Carolina Association of School Administrators. These important national and state positions gives Don a broad perspective of the data demands, training requirements, and the political pressure confronting school leaders. Don's major efforts included developing and implementing instructional leadership programs throughout the nation based on the NASSP assessment process. He was among the first school leaders to recognize the importance of real time assessment and information for districts and teachers and the application of professional development to meet their instructional needs.
In addition to his long education career, Don served as an Air Force Reserve officer retiring as a Colonel. His last position was at Air University where he had a variety of experiences and responsibilities including budgeting for the Air Force's professional military education programs worldwide. While at Air University Don worked on several technology initiatives including implementing distance learning for students world wide and an upgrade of the AFROTC student information, personnel, and finance system.
Don served as an associate professor at The Citadel and Troy State University. He taught courses in finance, statistics, research, and leadership.
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