kl8@colled.msstate.edu

Cynthia A. Ward, Ed. D.
Executive Director

Phone:(662) 325-3720
Email: cward@preps.msstate.edu
Dr. Cindy Ward, Associate Director, has over 25 years of experience in the field of education. She has taught in the public schools, held high-level administrative posts, and served in Mississippi’s Governor’s office and its Department of Education. In 1990, she began applying her wide-ranging expertise to improving the quality of educational assessment—a move that ultimately led her to her previous position as Vice President, Proposals and Contract Management, for ETS K-12 Works, Inc., a subsidiary of Educational Testing Service (ETS), in San Antonio, Texas.

Sarah C. Howard, M. S.
Director of Research, Evaluation, and Technology

Phone: (662) 325-3789
E-mail: sch5@preps.msstate.edu
Sarah Howard has conducted research and statistical analyses for the Program of Research and Evaluation for Public Schools (PREPS) for the past three years. She has also served as an external evaluator and technical writer for several evaluation projects and proposals written and conducted by PREPS. Some of the larger projects she has been involved in include the evaluation of two 21st Century Community Learning Center projects, including one consortium of seven districts with twelve program sites and one school district with four program sites. She has also served as an advisor and meeting coordinator for a consortium of 20 Mississippi school districts involved in implementing the Edusoft platform. Ms. Howard is an active member of both the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME). She has presented a research paper at the National AERA Conference and has also made presentations at the Quality Schools Conference and the 2002 and 2003 PREPS Winter Conferences.

Valerie Troiani
Director of Assessment and Accountability

Phone: (601) 832-8247
E-mail: vtroiani@preps.msstate.edu
Valerie Troiani worked for seventeen years in the areas of assessment and accountability during her tenure with the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE). From 2002 to 2005, she served as Assistant Director of the MDE’s Office of Student Assessment (OSA) and worked closely with OSA staff, testing company representatives, and school district personnel in the development and implementation of all components of the Mississippi Assessment System. She wrote or co-wrote the Request for Proposals that lead to each of the major testing contracts since 1992 and was responsible for supervising the staff who manage those contracts.

Ms. Troiani has successfully trained school district personnel in the following areas: test development, test administration, test security, standard setting, test score interpretation, assessment of students with disabilities, accountability (Achievement, Growth, and AYP Models), and No Child Left Behind. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rhodes College and a Master of Arts degree from Louisiana State University.

Jennifer Blackbourn
Director, Mattie T. Technical Assistance Center

Phone: (662) 325-0190
E-mail: jblackbourn@preps.msstate.edu
Jennifer Blackbourn, Director of the Mattie T. Technical Assistance Center at PREPS, has 25 years of experience in public school education. She has worked in the field of education in Mississippi, Louisiana, and South Carolina. She has experience in working with students with special needs in preschool settings as well as in kindergarten through 12th grades.

Mrs. Blackbourn holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Speech-Language Pathology from Mississippi University for Women, and has completed advanced coursework in emotional-behavioral education areas. She holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology with the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. She is active in professional and community organizations.

Ann McCorvey, M. S.
Coordinator, Mattie T. Technical Assistance Center

Phone: (662) 325-0190
E-mail: amccorvey@preps.msstate.edu
Ann McCorvey has over 30 years of experience in the field of education. She has taught in the public schools of Alabama,South Carolina, Florida,North Carolina,and Tennessee. Mrs.McCorvey has served as a teacher of regular and special education in grades K-12.She has implemented and coordinated special programs in Alabama ,as well as, South Carolina. Mrs. McCorvey has received many awards and honors as an educator,including being named a teacher of the year.She holds a Bachelor of Science from Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama and a Master of Science from Alabama A&M University in Huntsville, Alabama. Ms.McCorvey has completed advance courses in Special Education Administration. She participates in several professional and community activities.

Kina Kemp
Student Worker

Phone: (662)325-3720
Email: kk146@msstate.edu