The Action in Professional Learning Team 

Dr. Manfra (PhD) has extensive background in educational research and evaluation, curriculum development, and professional development. She has served as an evaluator for the US DOE Teaching American History Grant program, the ASSIST NSF Nanotechnology Engineering Research Center, the Maryland Humanities Thinkport project, numerous NSF-funded Research Experiences for Undergraduate programs (REUs), and the SFS Cyber Security program at FI International University and the University of Florida  She is the author of Action Research for Classrooms, Schools, and Communities. In 2020 she was awarded the National Technology Leadership Initiative Fellowship. 

 Dr. Turner (PhD) is an expert in multilingual education and is fluent in Spanish and English. She also has extensive background in research and evaluation, curriculum development, and professional development She is a certified TESOL instructor.  Her research has focused on the experiences of refugee and immigrant youth, the efficacy of international teacher education programs, and strategies to improve multilingual education programs. She has extensive experience in the K-12 classroom and regularly leads professional development and curriculum design projects.  She has published widely in the fields of education and foreign languages.  

Dr. Coven (PhD) is an expert in curriculum and development, teacher professional development, and mixed methods research.  He has designed cutting edge curriculum materials for the social studies and civics classrooms that integrate digital tools and visual modeling strategies.  He has published numerous articles related to the field of social studies education and technology integration. His diverse training in history, economics, and architecture will bring a multi-disciplinary perspective to the project. He has 20+ years of experience in K-12 education. 

Dr. Bindra (PhD) is an expert in mixed methods research and diversity, equity, and inclusion.  She has published numerous articles and book chapters within the field of educational psychology. Her areas of specialty include moral identity development, race in education, critical race theory, and social media use/network analysis. She has expertise in both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, including the use of statistical and qualitative data analysis software.  She has developed curriculum for community-based non-profits, e.g., Juntos North Carolina, Facing History and Ourselves, and C3teachers.org. She is a former public-school teacher.