About Us

Marge Maxwell

Marge Maxwell has been a teacher, school district supervisor, and university professor of educational technology. She was a special education teacher, supervisor of special education, and a supervisor of instructional technology before moving on to the university level. She earned her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis in educational technology. Currently, she is an associate professor at Western Kentucky University in the Library Media Education master’s degree program. Her research interests include effectiveness of online instruction; integrating critical thinking, authentic learning, and technology to produce deeper student learning; and connecting reform with Common Core Standards. She collaborated to develop CReaTE tasks for a set of six Elementary Mathematics books aligned with the Common Core standards to help students delve deeper into solving authentic mathematics problems.

Janet Tassell

After time in the classroom teaching mathematics, Janet spent 14 years as Director of Learning and Assessment working with K-12 teachers in curriculum and professional development.  During this time, she learned the importance of teachers needing rigorous materials aligned to the standards.  She is now an Assistant Professor at Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky, where she teaches Elementary Math Methods and directs the Elementary Mathematics Specialist Endorsement program.  She has been the co-director of the Toyota Math and Technology Leadership Academy and the professional development coordinator for the Javits grant Project GEMS (Gifted Education for Math and Science) initiative for grades 3-6 students.  She and her husband, Brad, published a book connecting reading and mathematics fluency: Speaking of Math — Fluency Poems for Partners: Addition.  She recently led a team of 14 authors to design and author six books for 1^st-6^th grade students to delve deeper into the Common Core Mathematics Standards.

Rebecca Stobaugh

Rebecca Stobaugh has been a principal and middle and high school teacher. As a middle school and high school teacher, she was named Social Studies Teacher of the Year by the Kentucky Council for Social Studies in 2004. In her position as a middle school principal, she focused on aligning curriculum, increasing the level of critical thinking in assessments and instruction, and establishing a school-wide discipline plan. She is the author of two books:  Assessing Critical Thinking in Elementary Schools and Assessing Critical Thinking in Middle and High Schools.  Dr. Stobaugh collaborated to develop authentic project tasks for six elementary Common Core texts designed for students to engage in higher-level, authentic problem solving. She received a PhD from the University of Louisville. Currently, she serves as an assistant professor at Western Kentucky University, teaching assessment and unit-planning courses in the teacher education program. She supervises first-year teachers and consults with school districts on critical thinking, instructional strategies, assessment, technology integration, and other topics.