Dwayne Schmitz

Background

About Dwayne Schmitz

I enjoyed teaching mathematics in public schools for 13 years. While earning my Doctorate of Applied Statistics and Research Methods, I gained expertise in estimating student academic growth and the effects of teachers and schools on student growth. While studying teacher prepartaion program effectiveness as the Assistant Director of Teacher Education and Evaluation for the Chancellor’s Office of California State University, I experience the importance of strategic leadership in shaping system improvements. Those experiences prepared me to serve as the Colorado Department of Education’s Principal Consultant for the development of the Colorado Growth Model. Currently, I am the Director of Research and Evaluation for Poudre School District (PSD) and am primarily responsible for: 1) the calculation of teacher and principal Growth Ratings required by recent Colorado legislation known as Educator Effectiveness (or SB-191), 2) managing all aspects of the research-partnerships PSD has with external entities, 3) system-wide program evaluations, and 4) implementation and analysis of a coordinated set of system-wide surveys. I enjoy finding meaningful patterns in data and transforming these insights into understandable and actionable information. The positions I have enjoyed the most provide the time needed for in-depth analysis using the full array of my analytic skills as well as frequent interactions with organizational leaders who value a data-informed approach to systemic improvement.