Maricarmen Macrina
Supervisor, Early Childhood Program
Camden Board of Education

James T. McBee, Jr.
Director, Office of Abbot Services New Jersey
Department of Education

James McBee started his career in education as a middle school teacher in Providence, Rhode Island. He later taught at the middle and high levels in the Richmond, VA public schools and at Washington Township High School in Gloucester County, NJ. He came to the New Jersey Department of Education in 1997 to work in the Division of Abbot Implementation as an Education Specialist assigned to the Southern Regional Abbot Office. He was appointed Manager of that office in 2002. In 2003, James left the Department to become Director of Student Services at the Brookfield Academy in Cherry Hill. He returned to the Department as the Manager of the Central Regional Abbot office in December 2005.

Wilbert Mitchell
Executive Director, Respond, Inc.

Mr. Mitchell is the Executive Director of  Respond, Inc.,  a voluntary, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) agency created by the community to enhance and promote the economic independence and general welfare of individuals and families residing in Camden City and County by providing comprehensive services in child care, senior and homeless day centers, housing, youth services, employment and related programs which help people help themselves.

Lesley Morrow
Professor II of Literacy and Early Childhood/Elementary Education
Graduate School of Education, Rutgers University

Research Interests: Early literacy development dealing with motivation, fluency, classroom environments, and professional development.

Dr. Morrow holds the rank of Professor II at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Education where she is coordinator of the literacy program. She began her career as a classroom teacher, then became a reading specialist and later received her Ph.D. from Fordham University in New York City. Her area of research deals with early literacy development, and the organization and management of Language Arts Programs. Her research is carried out with children and families from diverse backgrounds. Dr. Morrow jointly with her colleagues serves as a Principal Investigator for M-CARE (Mid-Atlantic Collaborative for Applied Research in Education) project, a 6 million dollar initiative funded by the US Department of Education to improve comprehension of expository text.