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Panelists:Jack O’Connell
He has worked to smooth the transitions between all segments of education, from preschool to college or the workplace. As a former high school teacher and author of the legislation creating the California High School Exit Exam, he has led a comprehensive effort to increase rigor and improve student achievement in California high schools. Superintendent O’Connell is a proven team builder with the ability to forge consensus on contentious issues, especially where challenges are strongest. He has worked to fortify California's world-class academic standards, strengthen California’s school accountability and assessment systems and bolster state funding for public school classrooms. He also has been a leader among state school chiefs nationwide in an effort to increase flexibility and fairness in the federal No Child Left Behind school accountability system. He is a long-time advocate for smaller class sizes, improved teacher recruitment and retention, comprehensive testing, and up-to-date school facilities. Superintendent O’Connell was born in 1951 in Glen Cove, New York. In 1958, his family moved to Southern California, where he attended local public schools. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from California State University (CSU), Fullerton and earned his secondary teaching credential from CSU, Long Beach in 1975. He returned to his high school alma mater to teach for several years and later served on the Santa Barbara County School Board. He was elected to the 35th State Assembly District in 1982 and was reelected by wide margins thereafter, once garnering both the Republican and the Democratic nominations. In 1994, O’Connell was elected to the 18th State Senate District on California’s Central Coast and easily won reelection in 1998. Throughout his career, Superintendent O’Connell has worked to improve public education in California. As the author of numerous landmark education bills in both the California Assembly and the State Senate, he made quality education his number one priority. This commitment to the children of California earned Superintendent O’Connell the praise and the respect of colleagues and educators statewide. Superintendent O’Connell and his wife, Doree, have been married for more than 30 years and have a daughter, Jennifer, who is 20.
In her 10 years of advocacy work prior to joining ETW, Ali held several senior positions at various organizations serving youth education, including: liaison to the president of the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, DC; chief of staff to the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education; and deputy co-director of the Advancement Project. Ali graduated from American University with a bachelor’s degree in Law and Society. She holds a law degree from Northwestern University. Ali practiced corporate and civil rights law and served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Southern California School of Law prior to her advocacy career. Ali is a member of the State Bar of California and serves on the boards and advisory committees of a number of education related organizations, including the LAUSD Board of Education’s Curriculum and Instruction Committee. Ali is currently a member of The California Governor's Committee on Education Excellence.
Over the past 25 years -- inside policy organizations and the university -- Fuller has explored how public initiatives attempt to advance children's learning and development. As a sociologist curious about the state and "theories of action" embedded in policy, much of his work examines the origins and practical features of educational and family policies. Fuller's empirical work also focuses on local organizations in terms of how schools, child-care organizations, and families respond to recurring waves of policy reform aimed at changing the behavior of residents found inside. Mr. Fuller is finishing a book on the political and cultural dilemmas that swirl about the universal preschool movement. This cause, gaining strength in several states, offers an intriguing case of how the central state attempts to unify and standardize even grassroots organizations that serve a colorfully pluralistic array of families. His other books are "Inside Charter Schools: The Paradox of Radical Decentralization" (Harvard University Press, 2000), and "Government Confronts Culture" (Taylor & Francis, 1999). His previous work with Susan Holloway on early education in poor communities, appeared in Through My Own Eyes (Harvard, 1997). Fuller also explored the theme of how different kinds of families and children respond to state-led or market-oriented policies in a book with Richard Elmore, Who Chooses, Who Loses? Culture, Institutions, and the Unequal Effects of School Choice (Teachers College Press, Columbia, 1996).
Re-elected in March 2005 to a two-year term, Vogel has taught all elementary grades, including kindergarten. He’s also taught extended education courses at three California State University campuses in Sacramento, Sonoma, and Hayward, and at the University of California at Davis. In addition, he spent 10 years as a resident teacher in the University of California Teacher Education Program, working with student teachers and helping the university develop its program for pre-service and in-service educators. He understands teachers and their needs, but also knows from his long career as a counselor the critical public education role played by the thousands of skilled student support professionals represented by CTA. Since 1990, Vogel has worked as an elementary school counselor in the Vacaville Unified School District in Solano County. In Vacaville, he was a counselor’s counselor. As a master counselor for university field study students, he trained many pupils who went on to become school counselors. Wanting to give back even more to his community, he helped to develop a unique community counseling center that was housed on the campus of a Vacaville elementary school. During the school day, Vogel would work at the school with his counseling interns and staff to serve students. After hours, the center was opened up to the community. For his commitment to counselors, he was named “Advocate of the Year” by the California Association of School Counselors in the spring of 2006. His counseling work was preceded by a teaching career of some 18 years in Vacaville, where he was named a local teacher of the year. He was one of the first mentor teachers in Vacaville Unified, where he also conducted staff development workshops. Vogel has served in a variety of positions within CTA. His activism with the Vacaville Teachers Association included serving three years as president. He was elected to the statewide CTA Board of Directors in 1996, representing 20,000 educators in nine counties – Yolo, Solano, Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte. As CTA secretary-treasurer, he oversees the association’s complex budget that rivals that of a major corporation. A graduate of public schools, Vogel was born in Idaho but grew up in Chino in Southern California. He earned a bachelor’s of science degree in social sciences from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and received his elementary teaching credential from UC Davis. At CSU-Sacramento, he earned a master’s in education/group dynamics and a pupil personnel services credential. He lives in Davis with his wife, Nancy Hiestand, who is a teacher in the Vacaville district, where the two educators met on the job. Vogel has three grown daughters and five grandchildren. Contacting Dean E. Vogel
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Jack O’Connell was elected to a second four-year term as State Superintendent of Public Instruction on June 6, 2006. He was the only statewide official to be elected in the June primary election, after earning more than half of all votes cast in a field of five candidates. He was first elected to serve as California’s 26th State Superintendent on November 5, 2002, earning more votes than any other contested candidate in the country. As chief of California’s public school system and leader of the California Department of Education, Superintendent O'Connell has focused on closing the achievement gap and preparing students for a rapidly changing global economy by holding high standards for all students. He is a strong supporter and facilitator of partnerships between schools, businesses, communities, and philanthropies in order to engage students with challenging, real-world education experiences.
Russlynn Ali is the founding director of the Education Trust-West (ETW), the west coast partner of the national policy and advocacy organization the Education Trust. The organization works for the high academic achievement of all students at all levels, with an emphasis on serving Latino, African American, Native American and low-income students. 
Bruce Fuller, Ph.D., is a professor of education and public policy at the University of California, Berkeley. His current work focuses on the dilemmas around the radical decentering of public aims and institutions, including child care and public schools, as well as how different groups are served by this movement. Prior to becoming a full-time scholar, Mr. Fuller worked for a state legislature, a governor, then a sociologist at the World Bank. He taught at the Harvard School of Education before returning home to the San Francisco Bay Area. 
Secretary-Treasurer and veteran educator Dean E. Vogel, a versatile member of the CTA leadership team, brings to the table 34 years of public school service as a teacher and counselor whose rich education career reflects the scope of the union’s diverse membership.
Faysal Sohail is a General Partner with CMEA Ventures. Mr. Sohail has more than a decade of senior executive experience in engineering, marketing and business development. He was CEO of Cadabra Design Automation and managed its acquisition by Numerical Technologies (NMTC) where he served as Sr. Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations. Prior to Numerical Technologies, Faysal was Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy for Synopsys Inc. (SNPS). He is currently on the Board of Directors of Alien Technology, Applied Wave Research and Inovys Corporation. Mr. Sohail holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) where he also serves on the College of Engineering Advisory Board (CEAB). He is also on the boards of Pyxis Technology and Zenasis Technology. Married with 4 kids he enjoys golf and spending time with his kids.