Sinnjinn Bucknell, Managing Director of Accountability
Sinnjinn Bucknell serves as the Managing Director of Accountability at the SUNY Charter Schools Institute and has been with the Institute since 2014. As the leader of the Institute’s academic team, Sinnjinn oversees the rigorous qualitative evaluation of school programs, consistent implementation of the academic performance framework, and the new applications process. His goal is to ensure that all SUNY authorized charter schools are held accountable to providing high quality instruction to students and demonstrating strong academic achievement.
Prior to his role as Managing Director, Sinnjinn led the Institute’s performance and systems team. In that position he was responsible for managing the Institute’s academic data systems and providing performance analyses that support the Institute’s work through: monitoring and coordinating the development of school accountability plans and school data reporting; analyzing individual school performance; and providing high quality analytic support to the school evaluation team. Before joining the Institute, Sinnjinn worked as an educational research assistant and as a college access advisor. He has additionally worked in schools as a teacher and debate coach. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Master of Arts in Urban Education Policy from Brown University.
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Andrew Kile, Director of School Evaluation
Andrew Kile is the Director of School Evaluation with the Institute. As lead for the Institute’s evaluation team, Andrew supports the development of Institute practices and protocols for school evaluations, supports school visit teams, and oversees the production of evaluation and renewal recommendation reports. Before joining the Institute, Andrew served as an academic dean and lead of operations at DREAM Charter School in East Harlem. He has also worked as a consultant, providing technical assistance to schools and conducting school quality review visits in a variety of school systems throughout the U.S. Andrew received his Master of Education in School Leadership from the Summer Principals Academy at Columbia Teachers College. He has his Master of Science in Education from Pace University and his Bachelor of Arts from The Ohio State University. Andrew is also well traveled having volunteered with youth programs in Japan and Egypt
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Ciani Jones, School Evaluator
Ciani Jones is a School Evaluator with the SUNY Charter School Institute Evaluation Team. In this role, Ciani supports the Institute with conducting charter school visits and evaluations, contributing to the development of evaluation and charter recommendation reports, and supporting with general development of the Institute’s Evaluation Team. Prior to joining the Institute, she worked at the New York City Department of Education leading program evaluation efforts for its alternative teacher certification programs and has worked in charter schools as both a special education teacher and data analyst. She has a M.A. in Education Policy from New York University and a M.A. in Special Education.
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Desree Cabrall-Njenga, School Evaluator
Desree Cabrall-Njenga is a School Evaluator with the SUNY Charter School Institute Evaluation Team. As School Evaluator, Desree supports the Institute with conducting charter school visits and evaluations, contributing to the development of evaluation and charter recommendation reports, and supporting with general development of the Institute’s Evaluation Team. Prior to joining the Institute, she served as Chief Academic Officer at a New York City CMO leading academic programing, school leader management, training, and oversight.
After completing an undergraduate degree in Journalism and Media Studies, she worked for several years as a teacher with New York City Department of Education while earning MS Degree in Education, before serving as instructional leader, principal, deputy superintendent, and educational consultant with charters in New York and Massachusetts. In her free time, Desree enjoys competitive ballroom dancing.
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Dr. Kathleen Haywood, School Evaluator
Dr. Kathleen Haywood is a School Evaluator at the SUNY Charter School Institute. As a School Evaluator, she conducts charter school renewal and evaluation visits, analyzes school data for performance monitoring, interviews school constituents, contributes to the development of evaluation and renewal reports, reviews new charter school applications, and supports the general development of the Institute’s Evaluation Team. Before joining the Institute, Kathleen worked as a special education teacher with the New York City Department of Education. She also served as an academic support department chair at an independent school and held several positions at a charter school, including intervention coordinator, assistant director of academic support, and director of academic support.
Dr. Haywood holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Women’s and Gender Studies from Yale University. She also earned a Master of Arts in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from CUNY Brooklyn College, a Master of Science in Education (Special Education) from CUNY Hunter College, and an EdD in Curriculum, Teaching, Learning, and Leadership from Northeastern University.
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Katy Clayton, School Evaluator
Katy Clayton is a School Evaluator with the SUNY Charter Schools Institute. In this role, she supports the Institute in the monitoring of charter school performance and managing the requirements of the evaluation process. After completing a B.A. in American Studies from Yale University, Katy worked for several years as a high school English teacher at different charter school systems in New Orleans. Most recently, she completed a Master of Public Administration degree with an emphasis on education and social welfare policy while working as a research assistant at the Rockefeller Institute of Government.
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Jeff Schmidt, Senior Performance and Systems Analyst
Jeff Schmidt is the Senior Performance and Systems Analyst at the SUNY Charter Schools Institute. In this role, he conducts quantitative analyses and helps ensure data accuracy for the Institute’s school evaluation reporting. Prior to joining, Jeff interned at for the National Renewable Energy Lab while receiving his master’s degree where he created dashboards and analyses to help the organization track a broad set of initiatives. Before enrolling in his graduate studies, Jeff spent several years at Kantar where he worked as market research analyst. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Western Connecticut State University and a Masters in Applied Statistics from Colorado State University.
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Saadia Santos, Performance and Systems Analyst
Saadia Santos is the Performance and Systems Analyst at the SUNY Charter Schools Institute. In this role, she conducts quantitative analyses to support school evaluation. Before joining the Institute, Ms. Santos worked as a scheduler and legislative aide in the New York State Senate and as community liaison in a senate district office. While finishing her undergraduate degree, Saadia worked as a camp counselor and Program Coordinator at the Girl Scouts of Greater New York’s Camp Kaufmann where she was also a certified high ropes instructor. Ms. Santos holds a B.S. in Public Affairs from the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College (CUNY).
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Jenna Wilkinson, Program Analyst
Jenna Wilkinson is the Program Analyst at the SUNY Charter Schools Institute. She is responsible for providing direct support to the academic staff with planning school site visits, renewal report finalization, new applications, ongoing academic performance evaluations and site visit reports. She also assists Institute staff with producing materials to be used to analyze school performance. Prior to joining the Institute, Ms. Wilkinson served as the Director Assistant with Cengage Learning. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Communication from Keuka College.