S·P·A Overview

David Cleland has 40+ years in international business and education. As Vice President and Managing Director of International Sales and Operations at The Princeton Review; and at Kaplan, as Vice President for International Operations, he managed and grew their overseas business operations in test preparation, corporate programs, English as a Second-Language schools, oral proficiency skills and student placement counseling services. At Kaplan, he helped develop a TOEIC preparation course primarily for their franchises in Asia. He worked closely with the in-house team and outside developers to ensure its validity and successful completion. David was with ELS Language Centers as President of U.S. operations and then President of ELS International. He taught ESL for many years in Japan and the U.S. preparing students to take TOEFL, TOEIC and other standardized admission tests. As oral proficiency was of growing concern in the global arena, he and other teachers at ELS developed ways to evaluate competency in oral communication. As their techniques proved effective, they became part of the "conversation class" curricula. Beginning in 2000, he was CEO and President of a start-up dot-com, Education/Connect, an early pioneer in the development of a user-friendly online college and university admissions website for students worldwide. David taught international freshmen survey courses as a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Southern California. He consults on various international education projects of interest to him.

David E. Cleland

Kathie Kwilinski is an expert in international programs. She has been a senior manager and marketing specialist; and through her outreach experience has recruited and placed thousands of international students for South Seattle Community Colleges (SSCC). Her recruiting travels are extensive and include Asia (Korea, Japan, China and others), the Middle East (such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE), Latin America (Ecuador, Peru etc.) and Europe. During her long career at SSCC, she has evaluated The Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency (MTELP), the TOEFL exam, and more recently, the iTEP exam. She validated that all three tests were acceptable evaluators for admitting international students to SSCC. Kathie worked for Washington Academy of Languages as an administrator, recruiter, market specialist and teacher and held similar posts at ELS. Her professional memberships where she has served in numerous leadership positions include Association of International Educators (NAFSA), American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), Association of Washington International Student Affairs (AWISA), Western Washington English Language Consortium (WWELC), and the Study Washington Consortium. She serves on several boards and committees including Global Impact, Global District Counsel, Peru Quest/Global Impact and South Seattle Community College.

Kathie Kwilinski

Kendra Pierre-Louis has worked as an educator; SAT Curriculum developer specializing in increasing student comprehension of difficult topics at Davidson Tutoring; English language conversation teacher at Academie de Bordeaux in France; and as an English Language Arts Curriculum Developer and SAT/ISEE Instructor at The Princeton Review. While she was a teacher and developer she designed numerous tests for students preparing for the SAT, AP Advanced Placement tests, TOEFL and TOEIC as well as tests for her French students studying English. In her conversation classes, she emphasized and tested oral communication. Kendra is a published author of the acclaimed book Green Washed, IG Publishing 2012. Her second book is currently in press. She has co-authored several papers on biological diversity, numerous other articles and papers. She has a B.A. from Cornell University and an M.A. from the SIT Graduate Institute in Vermont.

Kendra Pierre-Louis

Robert Kafka has nearly 30 years of experience as an educator and teacher. At UCLA, he is an Associate Registrar and Manager of Program Services at UCLA Extension Programs. He trains and consults with department staff on data configuration for new courses and manages the Academic Approvals process for courses and instructors. As a Director of Courses at ELS Santa Monica, he developed ELS's first automated student scheduling system and opened and ran the first ELS center in Oklahoma City. He was a teacher for ELS Language Centers for many years where he taught English as a Second Language in the U.S. and in Tokyo, Japan. As a teacher and course developer he became an expert at preparing students to take the TOEFL exam which helped them apply successfully to U.S. colleges and universities. In Japan, he coached aspiring business professionals and helped develop their spoken English skills for further career advancement purposes. Rob is also a Robinson Jeffers Scholar, writes articles for their journal, and is a regular contributor to the publication, Jeffers Studies.

Robert Kafka

Allan Jacobson is without peer in the fields of Education and Psychology, having spent 35 years in both the public and private sectors across a diverse multi-cultural spectrum. At the California Re-ed West Center for Children and the Rio Linda School District, he was the facilitator responsible for formal design and staff development programs which included test preparation, improving student test processing speed, curriculum and teaching style modifications, behavior/classroom management and innovating ways to achieve better staff and parent communication. Allan has worked with numerous California school districts as well as the Alta California Regional Center, Northern California Diagnostic Center and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a practicing School Psychologist. He has provided a full range of counseling services to students from South Korea, Southeast Asia, China, India, Africa, South and Central America and Europe. Early in his career, as an intern at institutions including the Re-ed West Center for Children, the Elk Grove Unified School District and the Buckey Union School District, he administered educational evaluations of pre-school children and students. Allan has also served as a supervisor at Sacramento State University's diagnostic center in California.While having also served on a variety of boards throughout his prestigious career, Allan continues to make strides and important contributions in the fields of Education and Psychology to this day. His education includes first year Ph.D. studies in Psychology at the University of California at Berkeley.

Allan C. Jacobson