Our Staff

• Our Mission
• History
• Staff

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  Marjorie Cohen

  Senior Program Associate, Education
  National League of Cities
  Marjorie Cohen is the Senior Program Associate for Education in the Institute for Youth, Education, and Families at the National League of Cities in Washington, D.C. In this role, Marjorie provides technical assistance and support to municipal leaders and their education policy advisors on a range of K-12 education policy issues. Her current focus – the Alternative High School Initiative – includes an emphasis on the development and implementation of the AHSI Place-Based Partnership sites, as well as the role policy plays in promoting multiple pathways for students to graduation from high school and college and career access. Prior to joining NLC, Marjorie spent four years as a research associate at Policy Studies Associates, an education research and evaluation firm in Washington, DC, where she contributed to the research, analysis, and administration of studies in education and youth development. Having been involved in education policy (concentrating specifically on improving the experiences and outcomes for at-risk youth) on a variety of levels in a number of organizations over the years, Marjorie has also held positions at the National Governors Association, WestEd, and the California School Boards Association. Marjorie received a Master’s in Public Policy from Georgetown University and a BA from the University of California at Davis. You can email her at cohen@nlc.org .

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  Talmira Hill

  AHSI Director
  Talmira Hill has served as Director of the Alternative High School Initiative since December 2007, providing leadership for the network as a part-time consultant to Big Picture Learning. In January 2005, Talmira began working with AHSI as a policy consultant to the Institute for Youth, Education, and Families within the National League of Cities. In her role with NLC, Talmira facilitated AHSI’s policy efforts and authored Setting the Stage for New High Schools: Municipal Leadership in Supporting High School Alternatives (2007). In addition to serving as AHSI Director, Talmira is Principal of the T. L. Hill Group, an independent firm she founded in May 2001 that designs innovative, partnership-driven initiatives to improve education, workforce development, and youth development outcomes in low-income and underrepresented communities. In this role, she has contributed to numerous projects aimed at improving young adult transitions. Talmira is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. A program officer with the Annie E. Casey Foundation from 1995-2001, Talmira initiated investments to improve results among young adults making critical transitions in life. Prior to joining the foundation, Talmira served as a Special Assistant to the Under Secretary in the U.S. Department of Education during the Clinton Administration. She began her career in 1986 in international economic development with Africare and considers her years living and working in Senegal, West Africa as critically significant in shaping her perspectives. Talmira is a dance and yoga enthusiast, avid reader, writer of poetry, and most recently a novice cross-country skier. You can email her at Talmira.ahsi@gmail.com.

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  Audrey Hutchinson

  Program Director, Education and Afterschool Initiatives
  National League of Cities
  Audrey M. Hutchinson is the Program Director of Education and Afterschool Initiatives at the National League of Cities (NLC), Institute for Youth, Education, and Families. In this capacity, she directs a national education initiative to assist mayors, and city council members to use their leadership roles and bully pulpit to improve the quality of K-12 education in urban districts, including expanded options for high schools and afterschool programming. For more than 20 years, her work has focused on K-12 and higher education, federal and local governments and the non-profit sectors. Prior to joining the National League of Cities, Ms. Hutchinson served in the Clinton Administration for 8 years where she held several senior positions at the White House and U.S. Department of Education, working on key initiatives– school-to-work transition, higher education, and international education. At the White House, she served as Chief of Staff to President Clinton’s Initiative on Race, to carry out his vision for racial reconciliation, and contributed to the published report, One America in the 21st Century: Forging a New Future. She also held several positions at the City University of New York, between 1986-1993, focusing on strengthening partnerships between the university, community, and city and state governments, and spent the preceding years as a special assistant and policy analyst for the President of the New York City Council. Ms. Hutchinson holds a B.A. degree in Sociology from State University of New York at Purchase and two masters’ degrees from Columbia University: A Master of Science in Social Work and a Master of Public Health. You can email her at Hutchinson@nlc.org .

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  Charlie Mojkowski

  Senior Associate, Big Picture Learning
  Charlie Mojkowski serves as the AHSI Data Work Group Leader and is a Senior Associate at Big Picture Learning where he currently works with Elliot Washor on developing new initiatives that refine and extend the Big Picture Learning design. Charlie has served as an independent consultant to education and business since 1976. He works primarily in the areas of school and curriculum improvement, leadership and organizational development, program evaluation, and applications of technology that support that work. Charlie designed, administered, and taught in a doctoral program in educational leadership; directed the Rhode Island Educational Leadership Academy; and served as Executive Director of the Rhode Island Association of School Principals. You can e-mail him at cmojkowski@mac.com .

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  Andrew Moore

  Senior Fellow, Institute for Youth, Education and Families
  National League of Cities
  Andrew Moore is a Senior Fellow with the National League of Cities’ Institute (NLC) for Youth, Education and Families, an “action tank” for cities. Moore’s roles include: coordinating efforts in three cities to expand options and alternatives for high school in conjunction with the Alternative High School Initiative; supporting a current technical assistance initiative in which six cities are using cross-system collaboration strategies to re-engage disconnected youth; and helping staff the 13-city California Cities Gang Prevention Network. Earlier, Moore spent 15 years building the nationwide network of service and conservation corps, and consulted for five years on strategic program development with clients in the youth development field. In 2000-2001, Moore was one of eight mid-career executives to serve as an Atlantic Fellow in Public Policy in the United Kingdom. Moore holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University. You can email him at Moore@nlc.org .

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  Jonathan Rogers

  Research Associate, Education
  National League of Cities
  Jonathan is the Research Associate for education in the Institute for Youth, Education, and Families at the National League of Cities in Washington, D.C. In this role, Jonathan supports the Institute’s work in areas related to education, school improvement, high school reform, and expanded learning opportunities, and aides in the coordination of the Mayors’ Education Policy Advisory Network. Jonathan has worked in the education, afterschool, and at-risk-youth fields through AmeriCorps; The Portland Housing Authority, Portland, Maine; The City of Portland, Maine Parks and Recreation; and The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Neighborhood Networks Initiative at DB Consulting Group. Jonathan is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Policy with an Urban Policy focus from The George Washington University, and received a BA from Macalester College. You can email him at jrogers@nlc.org .

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  Lauren Smock-Randall

  AHSI Network Support Coordinator
  Lauren Smock-Randall joined Big Picture Learning in August of 2005 assisting with Site Visits, Special Events, and Conferences. Over the years she has enjoyed hosting international visitors, organizing network-wide professional development conferences, and thinking of new and creative ways to arrange nametag layout. Lauren’s days are now filled with supporting and facilitating collaboration among the 12 organizations that make up the Alternative High School Initiative, while maintaining her involvement with Big Picture events and conferences. She graduated from Providence College in 2004 and went on to be an AmeriCorps VISTA member, serving as the Farmers’ Market Coordinator for Southside Community Land Trust in Providence, RI. If not furiously typing away at her desk or meticulously managing an event somewhere in the world, Lauren is likely creating costumes, accessories, and props for her favorite local burlesque troupe. You can email her at lsmock-randall@bigpicturelearning.org.

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  Elliot Washor

  Co-Director, Big Picture Learning
  Elliot Washor, Ed.D. is the co-founder and co-director of Big Picture Learning. He is also the co-founder of The Met Center in Providence, RI. Elliot has been involved in school reform for more than 30 years as a teacher, principal, administrator, video producer, and writer. He has taught and is interested in all levels of school from kindergarten through college, in urban and rural settings, across all disciplines. His work has spanned across school design, pedagogy, learning environments, and education reform and is supporting others doing similar work throughout the world. Elliot’s interests lie in the field of how schools can connect with communities to understand tacit and disciplinary learning both in and outside of school. Elliot is deeply committed to imagining Big Picture Learning as a ‘do-think-do’ organization, and persistently pushes the boundaries of its design in order to continually innovate practice and influence in the world of education. At Thayer High School in Winchester, N.H., Elliot’s professional development programs won an “Innovations in State and Local Government Award” from the Ford Foundation and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has been selected as an educator to watch in Rhode Island and has recently been selected as one of the Dirty Dozen – the Twelve Most Daring Educators in the World by the George Lucas Educational Foundation. His dissertation on Innovative Pedagogy and New Facilities won the merit award from DesignShare, the international forum for innovative schools. Elliot lives in sunny San Diego with his wife and five dogs. You can email him at ewashor@gmail.com.