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Our Mision

Our Mission

The M. A. Rooney Foundation is a non-profit organization committed to improving student achievement.
 

Our primary focus is to ensure that all students in K-2 are reading at grade level. 

 

To successfully accomplish our mission, we offer Orton-Gillingham training that supports a proactive preventative whole group instructional model. 
 

Additionally, we also offer educators a broad set of services and capabilities that include Data Management and Reporting Systems, Strategic Planning, and Professional Learning.

History

History

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Founded in 1969, the M. A. Rooney Foundation has been dedicated to charitable, educational, and religious programs that promote or provide educational opportunities and inter-racial justice, among other social and community assistance efforts.

Today, the Foundation is concentrating its efforts and resources on helping educators improve literacy and educational excellence in Indiana.

Through our partnerships with schools, community organizations and the Indiana Department of Education, we are providing educators with professional learning, strategic planning and a data management system to help them improve student achievement.

We operate in the spirit of “Teach a man to fish . . . .”

M. A. Rooney
AND
J. Patrick Rooney

Therese Rooney

Therese has taken a non-traditional route to not-for-profit work generally and education specifically. While it has been a journey, the exciting news for her is she did find her passion when learning there is a way to help unlock the door for struggling readers.

Staff

Ann Puckett-Harpold
President

Ann Puckett-Harpold has enthusiastically served children in many capacities during her educational career including her work as an elementary school teacher, principal, central office administrator and college instructor. She had the opportunity to open the first Edison school in Indiana and has worked with schools and corporations across the United States and the United Kingdom. Ann P-H is passionate about supporting educators as they embrace opportunities to utilize available data to drive instruction. As an educational leader, she embraces four words: FOCUSED, CONSISTENT, INTENTIONAL, and RELENTLESS. Her expertise is in strategic proactive planning, professional development, and data based accountability that leads to increased student achievement.

Frank Fults
Director

Frank’s twenty plus years of management and leadership bring a unique blend of technical, process, and project management skills to each of our educational partners. He works directly with educators to design and implement processes that provide principals and teachers the tools and analytics that maximize the use of existing data to improve student achievement. Throughout his career he has held senior level management positions at several Insurance companies as well as running a technology and management consulting firm. As a management consultant, he worked closely with business executives architecting, implementing, and executing strategic technology solutions for solving business problems and moving companies forward. As Chief Information Officer at Golden Rule Insurance and a member of the executive management team, Frank demonstrated his ability to lead and execute business; technology and process improvement initiatives designed to optimize performance, improve efficiencies, and grow the business.

Karen Betz, Ed.D
Educator

Karen is an Assistant Professor of Literacy and Coordinator of Reading Science Programs at Marian University. She received her doctoral degree from Mt. St. Joseph University in Reading Science. She is a former elementary teacher, gifted interventionist, and school and district literacy coach. Karen was hired by the M. A. Rooney Foundation as an Orton-Gillingham coach for teachers in grades K-2 in IPS and she continues to work closely with the MA Rooney Foundation as a trainer. Karen supports schools in their journeys to learn more about the vast body of knowledge called the science of reading as a consultant in her business, KB Literacy Consulting.

Shannon Nicholson
Educator

Shannon is committed to serving at the foundation to advance the use of evidence-aligned reading instruction. She comes to the foundation after serving as a United Way/AmeriCorps volunteer placed in IPS schools to further advance student growth and achievement. She gained knowledge and experience in using the Orton Gillingham method of small group and whole group instruction through her years of service and dedication within this program. She had previously been an early childhood business owner/operator for 7 years. Her training includes MARF Whole-Class Orton-Gillingham Training as well as Ron Yoshimoto Orton Gillingham Basic Training. Her education continues as she is enthusiastic to learn more about the science of reading and how to best implement practices that provide improvement in reading outcomes for all students.

Kat Shepler
Educator

Kat Shepler is a dedicated educator for the M.A. Rooney Foundation with a diverse background in early childhood education. Her career began as a 1st and 2nd grade teacher, progressing to the role of interventionist in a K-6 school in Indianapolis. With the training and support from the M.A. Rooney Foundation, she implemented Orton-Gillingham-based lessons in both whole group and small group settings. Kat served as a M.A. Rooney Foundation Orton-Gillingham Coach for where she supported teachers with the implementation of the Foundation’s lessons. Her school-based roles have also included building literacy coach, MTSS coordinator, and Dyslexia Designee. She has extensive training in literacy instruction, including MARF Whole-Class Orton-Gillingham Training, Ron Yoshimoto Orton-Gillingham Basic Training, Associate Level practicum and coursework, and LETRS Training. Currently, Kat is completing her master’s degree in Reading Science through Marian University, where she continues to deepen her expertise in literacy instruction. In her current role, Kat is committed to training and supporting teachers in the effective and successful implementation of the Orton-Gillingham approach.

Robert Hochgesang
Statistician\DBA

Robert worked in the insurance industry for eight years assisting corporate leadership in building data and analysis models for financial decision-making. He also created custom data solutions that use data warehouse and reporting technologies. A quick summary is, “provide the right numbers to the right people at the right time.” Robert has a Masters in Applied statistics from Purdue and a Bachelor’s in Economics from the University of Southern Indiana.

Sandra Hochgesang
Quality Assurance

Sandra assists the Foundation in providing reporting quality assurance. Her work experience includes seven years in accounting and auditing with much attention to detail. Sandra graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting. In her spare time, she enjoys volunteering in her children’s classrooms to help students with reading and math.

Staff
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