Grades often don't tell the whole story. The whole child deserves to be understood.
Educational assessment insight, advocacy, IEP/504 support, enrichment, and school-family collaboration for gifted, twice-exceptional, neurodivergent, disabled, anxious, and otherwise complex learners.
Children need expertise. They also need connection.
From classrooms and enrichment programs to national parent education, Sandy's work has always centered the actual child.
More than a test score. More than a report card. More than one meeting.
Sandy integrates assessment results, classroom evidence, work samples, developmental context, observation, parent and teacher insight, and lived experience to identify meaningful patterns and practical next steps.
Support that follows the actual child—not a generic checklist.
Every engagement is shaped around the learner, the family, the school context, and the decision in front of you.
Educational consultation & records review
Organize school records, evaluations, teacher communication, work samples, and family observations into a clear picture of strengths, patterns, concerns, and next questions.
Screening, benchmarking & data synthesis
Use appropriate educational measures within training and scope, then connect the results with classroom and functional evidence rather than treating any score as the whole story.
IEP & 504 preparation and support
Clarify priorities, develop questions, review goals and accommodations, organize evidence, and attend meetings as an educational advocate when appropriate.
Gifted, 2e & neurodivergent support
Identify the places where ability and performance diverge, where disability and giftedness may mask one another, and where a learner needs both support and meaningful challenge.
Student support & enrichment
Provide individualized language-arts support, executive-function scaffolding, enrichment planning, and project-based learning that builds skill without flattening curiosity.
School, teacher & program consultation
Partner with educators and administrators on differentiation, accommodations, progress monitoring, enrichment, classroom tools, staff learning, and program design.
Deep educational judgment, grounded in practice.
- Assessment administration, scoring and educational data use: NNAT3, Woodcock-Johnson achievement measures, PAST phonological-awareness screening, Wilson measures, ITBS, CogAT, NWEA MAP Growth, Renaissance STAR, curriculum-based benchmarking, and progress monitoring.
- Assessment leadership: NWEA MAP Growth trainer, Renaissance STAR testing trainer, and selected by Pearson to score edTPA teacher-certification assessments.
- Assessment creation: formative and summative assessments, standards-based rubrics, learning scales, proficiency systems, university assessment coursework, and needs-assessment surveys.
- Educational planning: WEP, IEP, 504, eligibility, placement, accommodation, modification, goal-development, data collection, and plan-revision experience from the educator and parent sides of the table.
- Inclusive practice: 17 years in a district with a dedicated magnet program serving deaf and hard-of-hearing students, plus extensive full-inclusion and multidisciplinary-team collaboration.
Credentials
- M.Ed., Curriculum & Instruction and Creative Writing, Penn State
- B.S., Middle Childhood Education in Language Arts and Science, magna cum laude
- Licensed in Language Arts and Science
- K-12 Gifted Endorsement, University of Cincinnati
- Former Gifted Intervention Specialist
- ETS Recognition of Excellence for Praxis performance
- NEOEA Positive Image Award
Instructional foundations
Practice grounded in mastery learning, standards-based assessment, differentiation, Universal Design for Learning, and gifted/twice-exceptional research—including the work of Bloom, Marzano, Guskey, Stiggins, and Wormeli.
A classroom educator who also builds systems.
Sandy’s experience spans direct student service, school and university instruction, faculty development, curriculum architecture, assessment reform, enrichment, and implementation.
Authority with actual classroom receipts.
TEDx St. Pete Women speaker. Featured twice in Forbes on neurodivergence and leadership. Featured expert in Fast Company. National and state education presenter.
“A master of differentiation, Sandy is perhaps the best teacher I have ever worked with when it comes to personalizing learning for students and creating both scaffolding and enrichment that respond in real time to formative assessment.”— Shannon Saunders, M.Ed., former colleague, Mayfield Schools
“Being your student was a great experience for her. Thank you for all that you did.”— Jason Parker, parent of a former student
“You are a Rock Star at selflessly putting your students, our children, as one of your highest priorities and making them realize their self-worth!”— Stephanie Mozer Musi, parent
Clear scope. Serious expertise.
Does a child need poor grades before this work is useful?
No. Grades are one source of information. A family may still need help understanding effort, access, communication, executive function, anxiety, compensation, discrepancies between ability and performance, or whether additional evaluation would clarify the picture.
Do you diagnose learning disabilities or medical conditions?
No. Sandy provides educational screening, observation, benchmarking, consultation, advocacy, and data synthesis. Medical, psychological, audiological, and diagnostic evaluations remain within the scope of appropriately licensed professionals.
Do you work against schools?
No. Sandy’s approach is collaborative: strong advocacy works best when families and schools work from the same evidence and remain on the same side of the table—the child’s.
Can you attend an IEP or 504 meeting?
Yes, when appropriate. Sandy can help prepare for the meeting, clarify goals and questions, organize documentation, review the proposed plan, and participate as an educational advocate—not as an attorney.
Can you communicate with a psychologist or neuropsychological evaluator?
With appropriate parent authorization, Sandy can prepare and share organized collateral educational notes, observations, screening information, and relevant questions for the licensed evaluator’s consideration.
Let’s look at the whole picture
Your child deserves support that sees both their needs and their capacity.
Tell Sandy what is happening, what has already been tried, and what decision or meeting is ahead. The first step is understanding where you are—not forcing you into a one-size-fits-all package.