Edvance Research

Dean Nafziger, Ph.D.
Laboratory Director

Dr. Dean Nafziger is a nationally recognized leader and experienced executive, educator and researcher. His breadth of experience gives him the insight and ability to work confidently with researchers, policy makers and business executives, as well as the capability to deliver expertise that result in effective strategies and superior solutions.

From his training and research experiences, Dr. Nafziger has a deep understanding and knowledge of the rationale of scientifically valid research and analytical skills required to conduct rigorous, high quality research studies, including randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies, and analyses using large data sets.

Dr. Nafziger’s stellar career includes research positions at The Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Social Organization of Schools, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) and San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD). Dr. Nafziger served in executive leadership roles at Far West Laboratory (now WestEd), Educational Testing Service (ETS), Sylvan Learning and Harcourt Educational Measurement.

In his role as President at Harcourt Educational Measurement, Dr. Nafziger guided the management of contracts with 30 state departments of education, catalog product sales, and 1000 full time and 1500 temporary staff in specialized functions including sales, marketing, customer support, psychometrics, sampling and statistics, test development, new product development, program management and operational logistics.

Dr. Nafziger has published extensively in professional journals such as the Journal of Vocational Behavior, Journal of Counseling Psychology and The Journal of Applied Psychology. In addition, Dr. Nafziger has served on numerous boards of professional organizations. He has held officer positions with several professional organizations and is frequently called upon as a guest speaker.

Dr. Nafziger received his Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics, Northwest Nazarene College, Ph.D., Educational Administration and Research, New Mexico State University and attended Harvard Business School, Strategic Perspectives for Nonprofit Management.

Donald Barfield has over 20 years of executive leadership in educational organizations (public, non-profit and for-profit), including Far West Laboratory (now WestEd), San Francisco Unified School District and Harcourt Assessment. His leadership has resulted in the successful delivery of major research and development initiatives.

Extensive experience in assessment and research has made Donald a trusted advisor as evidenced in his roles as a participant on the National Academy of Sciences: Scientific Principles in Educational Research Committee, California Department of Education: Academic Performance Index (API) Technical Design Group and the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) Board of Directors.

Donald has 15 years of Regional Laboratory experience and has been repeatedly recognized as being an intellectual leader. He has received 27 research grants/contracts from foundations, federal, state and local education agencies, non-profit organizations and businesses. The complexity and feasibility of work in schools and the challenges of educators is well understood by Donald. He has managed the development of multiple assessment products and is currently and has extensive experience in web-based professional development programs.

Don Barfield, A.B.D.
Associate Laboratory Director

Donald received his B.S in Sociology, University of California, Riverside, M.A. Sociology, Harvard University and A.B.D., Sociology and Urban Planning, Harvard University.

Russell Gersten, Ph.D.
Director of Research

Dr. Gersten is a nationally recognized expert in both quantitative and qualitative research and evaluation methodologies, with an emphasis on translating research into classroom practice. Increasingly, he has been used as an expert in the area of mathematics research, use of randomized trials in educational research, and the education of English learners and has directed many U.S. Department of Education research grants on this subject.

A professor emeritus in the College for Education at the University of Oregon, Dr. Gersten, is Executive Director of Institutional Research Group, a nonprofit educational research Institute with a current IES Teacher Quality Grant, and President of RG Research, a privately owned small business that specializes in Federal evaluation contracts, and for whom he serves as co-principal investigator of a large scale IES evaluation, involving randomized controlled trials, of four approaches for improving the comprehension of expository text of Title One students.

In 2002, Dr. Gersten received the Distinguished Special Education Researcher Award from the American Educational Research Association’s Special Education Research Division. He has over 125 publications in scientific journals such as Review of Educational Research, the American Education Research Journal and Exceptional Children. He serves on 13 editorial boards, including those of some of the most prestigious journals in the field such as Reading Research Quarterly, American Educational Research Journal and Journal of Learning Disabilities, Exceptional Children, and Elementary School Journal. He serves on numerous technical and professional advisory boards for both IES and the Office of Special Education. Dr. Gersten received his B.A. in Physical Sciences from Brandeis University and his Ph.D. in Special Education from the University of Oregon.

As CAO, Kathleen oversees the administrative functions at Edvance Research, such as Finance, Human Resources, Contracts, Legal and Information Technology. As CIO, she provides leadership for implementing innovative solutions to scale high-quality products and services for educators at all levels.

Kathleen became a leader in the pioneering efforts of the early '90s to develop standards for sharing student information between educational institutions using early Internet protocols, having chaired the National Center for Educational Statistics task force on electronic record transfer to establish standards, managed several large scale development efforts to build student record systems, and developed solutions for district and state reporting needs. She has provided technology leadership for organizations such as the California Department of Education, WestEd, Oracle Corporation, and Harcourt Assessment, as well as consulted with student information system vendors and education agencies on instructional and administrative technology solutions.

Kathleen Barfield, M.B.A.
Chief Administrative Officer

Kathleen was instrumental in developing the California School Information Services (CSIS) program in the early '90s to provide accountability reporting on student-level information. She worked with the NCES, IHEs and districts to develop and implement a student transcript program for all students, as well as a statewide system for migrant education reporting.

Through her work with Oracle and local school districts, she helped districts implement data warehousing solutions to meet their needs for data-driven reporting solutions. As senior director for eTesting and Reporting at Harcourt, she spearheaded the delivery of online testing and reporting solutions for schools, states and districts.

Kathleen received a B.A., International Studies, University of Pacific, Stockton and M.B.A., California State University, Sacramento. Additional credentials include the Graduate Language Program (Japanese), Stanford University and California School Leadership Academy.

Gail Ribalta, M.I.M.
Director of Market Research
and Dissemination

Gail is a seasoned senior marketing executive who has a successful track record in operating businesses and over ten years in the business of education, including leadership positions at Texas Instruments, Harcourt Assessment and Mattel Toys among others. With over 25 years of experience in all aspects of marketing and product development, Gail has been recognized as an innovative problem solver with proven solutions. She has spent half of her career in developing international markets and has a solid foundation in operations and finance. Gail specializes in market research and interpreting the data into actionable strategic plans.

Gail has spent a significant portion of her career working for the benefit of children and with children’s educational products. Her extensive knowledge in market research and analysis has been a major strength in communicating and incorporating research findings into strategic assessment and practical application.

A major proponent of community outreach, Gail has been instrumental in providing support for a number of community organizations including the Texas Diversity Council, the Children’s Shelter, National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) and Communities in Schools.

Gail received her Bachelor of Arts, Economics & Political Science at Rutgers University and a Master of International Management, International Marketing and International Finance at Thunderbird, American Graduate School of International Management. She serves as an Adjunct Instructor, MBA Program On-Line, Norwich University and serves on the Advisory Council for the University of Texas at San Antonio, College of Liberal and Fine Arts.

Kristin Nafziger is a founding partner of Edvance Research, Inc. and serves as Executive Vice President for Emerging Practices. In this position she is responsible for following trends in education, and identifying and keeping educators informed about new evidence-based programs and practices that show promising results.

As part of her role at Edvance, she leads the technical assistance project for the Texas Education Agency to support the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program Enhancement and Quality Assurance grant program across the state.

In addition, Nafziger is the Director of Technical Assistance for REL Southwest. The focus of this unit is to help states and education organizations in our five-state region build capacity for making evidence-based decisions. REL Southwest implements a systematic outreach, problem clarification, response and referral, and market research strategy to produce and continuously refine a set of indicators about regional needs. REL Southwest responds to needs of regional constituents by providing access to the most rigorous and relevant research in an area of concern.

Kristin Nafziger, M.A.
Director of Technical Assistance

Prior to joining Edvance Research, Nafziger was an integral part of the Education Initiative with the American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC). At APQC she served as a program manager for the Baldrige in Education Initiative, a national effort bringing excellence and equity to education through the implementation of Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria and other quality tools. She also oversaw several studies that examined best practices in public school choice, magnet schools, teacher preparation programs and improving procurement processes for statewide assessments.

Nafziger holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management, and a Master's Degree in Communication Studies, both from Texas Tech University.

Mark McNeil, M.B.A.
REL Coordination and Program Management

Mark brings vast program management experience and leadership skills to Edvance Research. He has led successful initiatives in energy, technology and education industries, including positions at Fina Oil and Chemical, The Everest Group, Compaq Computer and Harcourt Assessment.

Mark has garnered accolades for his expertise in creating project monitoring systems, including relational database structures, query models and innovative report formats, all crucial to effective program management.

He has created numerous project management systems designed to plan, monitor and control the most fundamental and vital aspects of a project such as time (schedule), cost (budget) and performance (specifications).

High quality technical skills, a keen sense of political acuteness and a strong problem-solving orientation have brought Mark great credibility and an outstanding reputation among internal and external clients.

Mark received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing at Angelo State University and a Master of Business Administration in Management at the University of Houston.