Dr. Tim Schaap
Tim Schaap, GAINS Education Group Founder and President, received his Bachelors in Chemistry and doctorate in Secondary Education from Northern Illinois University. He coordinated a district ACT Test Preparation program, (900 students), developed the use and explanation of the NASSP Learning Style Profile and helped develop and institute the Prairie State Mirror testing program for freshmen and sophomores.

Tim has worked with several schools and organizations including National Association of Secondary School Principals, the ACT Corporation, Township High School District 214, Cambridge Educational Services, Scantron and the National Study of School Evaluation. He is also a member of the Learning Environments Consortium, International, LEC. With GAINS Education Group, he continually consults with a variety of schools and districts on assessment and school improvement especially related to the Learning Style Profile, the ACT and Work Keys(EPAS) and ITBS testing.

Dr. Marilynn Kulieke
Dr. Kulieke served as an associate executive director and senior vice president for the National Study of Evaluation for 6 1/2 years. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from Northwestern University in Educational Psychology, where she served as a research fellow. From 1987 to 2002, Dr. Kulieke served as the Director of Research and Evaluation for a large high school district in the Chicago area where she evaluated school based programs and coordinated the district's assessment program. In her capacity as research fellow at Northwestern University, she evaluated a large-scale character education program in the Chicago public schools, a Spencer funded grant to examine the impact of a residential integration program on student achievement, and a number of innovative programs for accelerated learners. Currently, Dr. Kulieke's focus is on developing approaches to accelerate the impact of school improvement and collecting and evaluating information using web based technologies. Dr. Kulieke has been a consultant with GAINS Education Group since the company was founded.

Ms. Peiyu Lin
Ms. Lin has been a programmer and database manager in a large high school district in Illinois over the past twelve years. Her major responsibilities included processing, managing, and reporting test/survey data for school improvement and NCLB AYP accountability. Her groundbreaking work in developing reporting software for EXPLORE, PLAN, and ACT resulted in national recognition for the district. She received a M.Ed. in Secondary School Education from Beijing Normal University, China. She earned her M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction and M.S. in Computer Science from Loyola University Chicago. Currently, Ms. Lin's focus is on using technology to help school administrators and teachers create meaning from their student's test results by providing diagnostic information to improve curriculum and instruction. She has been a consultant with GAINS Education Group since the company was founded.

Ms. Rosemary Jacot
Rosemary Jacot specializes in helping schools use surveys and school data for improvement planning. Prior to her new consulting responsibilities at GAINS Education Group, she was the NSSE Associate VP for Research Services. Her responsibilities included developing software tools focused on school improvement and student achievement as well as customer support and training. Previously, her experience included teaching at the elementary level and a technology Innovation Coordinator for a school district. She is a presenter at the National and state technology conferences.

Rosemary earned a Bachelor's degree from Northwestern University and a M.A.T. from National Louis University. Rosemary is currently the Director of Assessment Services at GAINS.

Ms. Lena Gubiotti
Lena Gubiotti received her Master’s Degree in English from Fordham University and a second Master’s Degree in Education Administration from Roosevelt University. She holds accreditation from the Public Relations Society of America and the National School Public Relations Association. She has served in public schools in Illinois, New York and California as an English and reading teacher and school administrator. Prior to joining GAINS, Lena served as the Vice President of Marketing for the National Study of School Evaluation. At NSSE, she co-authored publications on school performance, including Accreditation for Quality School Systems and Breakthrough School Improvement. She was Director of Personnel and Community Relations for Community School District 95 in Lake Zurich, Illinois and Director of Community Relations for High School 214 in Arlington Heights, Illinois. She has been a consultant for New Leaders for New Schools and AdvancED.

Mr. David Kulieke
After earning his B.A. in English literature from the University of Illinois, David Kulieke returned to add a teaching certificate. While teaching English, he earned an M.S. in Education at Northwestern University. He taught fifth through ninth grade English at Lake Forest Country Day School, a private independent school, from 1981 to 2009. He chaired the English department from 1988 to 2009. During this time he created and administered curricula covering every aspect of the English program, including composition and literature as well as grammar, vocabulary, spelling, and speech. He also inaugurated and led several interdisciplinary initiatives as well as special projects and events within the English department. Additionally, for 16 summers he taught literary analysis to gifted high school students as well as creating the curriculum for this course at Northwestern University's Center for Talent Development. In addition to his duties with GAINS, he now tutors English, test-preparation, and music as well as consulting with educational companies and serving as an editing consultant for a grammar publishing firm.

Mr. Dan McDonell
Dan McDonell has spent 35 years in the classroom as an Literature, Humanities and AP Language Teacher, the last 28 of which he spent at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Beginning in 1983, Dan began his work with the ACT exam, first as the director of a test preparation program which delivered instruction to students at three of the schools in District 214 and then as a private tutor and consultant to high schools in program design. Since his retirement from the classroom in 2007, Dan has worked with over 30 public, private and charter schools in Illinois as a consultant to improve classroom instruction and curriculum design to provide skills instruction in the CRS and to boost assessment performance on ACT and PSAE. He currently is a consultant to CPS Office of Turnaround, Civitas Charter Schools, Uplift High School, UNO Charter School, Notre Dame College Preparatory and Instituto Health Science Careers Academy. He is the author of the GAINS English Interim Exams and has worked with GAINS as a consultant in English and Reading Skills Improvement.

Ms. Carmela Sacchitello
Carmela Sacchitello received her undergraduate degree in Mathematics from DeLourdes College and her masters degree from Concordia University. She taught mathematics at both Wheeling and Prospect High School, was the Math/Science Division Head at Prospect High School and retired from District 214 in 2006 as Associate Principal for Curriculum and Instruction. Carmela has coordinated and taught both SAT and ACT prep classes for Wheeling High School and has been a consultant for GAINS where she designs and edits math problems aligned with the College Readiness Standards and mirror types of questions found on both the ACT andWorkKeys assessments. Carmela continues to work with District 214 as Interim Associate Principal at Elk Grove High School, as a consultant to Elk Grove's math program, and has delivered staff development to certified staff in District 214 and Chicago Public Schools.

Ms. JoAnn Schindler
JoAnn Schindler, GAINS test writer for science, received her Bachelors of Science and Secondary Education from DePaul University and a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from National Louis University. She has thirty years experience teaching Biology and is Golden Apple nominee. She has developed and administrated a school ACT Test Preparation program, helped develop the Prairie State Mirror testing program for freshmen and facilitated the use of Mastery Manager for formative assessments. JoAnn has worked for several schools and organizations including the ACT Corporation, Township High School 214, Township High School 207 and Empowered High Schools. JoAnn contributes to the GAINS Education Group by developing labs and ACT CRS assessments.

Ms. Angela Sisi
Angela Sisi received her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois in Spanish, French, and an endorsement in Mathematics. She received her masters degree from Northern Illinois University. She taught Math at Elk Grove High School, Spanish and French at Stevenson High School, was a dean at Stevenson, is the Coordinator of the Stevenson summer school program, and is currently the Director of Student Services at Stevenson.

Angela has taught ACT prep classes at Wheeling High School, Prospect High School, and Rolling Meadows. In addition, she has taught GED/ELL classes at Harper Community College. Angela writes ACT and WorkKeys math problems aligned with the College Readiness Standards for GAINS.

Ms. Ellen Macias
Ellen Macias has taught English at Vernon Hills High School since 2007. She has earned a Masters in Education from Northwestern University and a Masters in Reading from Benedictine University.

In addition to teaching English, she also teaches ACT preparatory classes for the English Test. She has written ACT-like reading items for GAINS since 2008.

Ms. Kris Bajko
Kris Bajko has been involved in the field of education in many ways for over 20 years. She has worked as a classroom teacher in Lake in the Hills and East Aurora, a reading consultant, an adult literacy instructor, and in special education classrooms. Kris earned a Bachelor of Business at Western Illinois University, graduating Magna Cum Laude. She joined the Peace Corps where she developed a love of education. She taught for several years at an internationally accredited private school in Guatemala City before returning to the United States, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a B.A. in Education from Northern Illinois University. In recent years, she has served as a consultant at the National Study of School Evaluation and GAINS Education Group.

Dr. Lydia Indeck
Lydia Indeck has been a research scientist for over twenty-five years. Her research interests include cytokine biology and apoptosis. She has taught both medical students and non-science majors. Lydia earned her B.A. in Biology at the University of Rochester and Ph.D. in Physiology at Indiana University School of Medicine. In recent years, she has served as a consultant at the National Study of School Evaluation and GAINS Education Group.

Mrs. Maria D. Moberg
Maria serves as an Interim Assessment Project Manager, coordinating and assisting with new assessment development. With an emphasis in Probability and Statistics, Maria has a BS in Mathematics from Northern Illinois University and a Graduate Certificate in Project Management from Keller Graduate School of Management. Maria's experience includes her work as an actuarial examiner for the IL Department of Insurance where she analyzed large company data files and performed audits of Illinois domiciled life insurance companies. In addition to her problem-solving skills, meticulous organizational skills, and attention to detail, Maria has held various administrative and management positions.

Ms. Sherry Sichak
Sherry Sichak received both a Bachelor of Science degree in Education and a Master of Science degree in Education with an emphasis in Reading from Northern Illinois University. During her 25+ years teaching in Mount Prospect, Naperville, Lisle, and Aurora, IL, Sherry was a classroom teacher at several grade levels, Learning Resource Center director, and Reading Improvement teacher working with students from Kindergarten through 7th grade. She has been trained extensively in the Response to Intervention/Problem Solving process, and served as a building coach from 2005 to 2010. In addition to creating assessments for GAINS, Sherry also works with school districts in the area of staff development.

Ms. Wendy L. Walters
Wendy Walters serves as an Interim Assessment Project Manager coordinating and assisting with new assessment development, data analysis and reporting processes. Her background includes software development, quality management, training and website evaluation. Wendy received her Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science Engineering from San Jose State University and has a Masters in Project Management. She has computer lab experience working with elementary students programs and continues to be an advisor for High School youths with project requirements, planning, and project development.