SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES 

September 24, 2015

2:00 – 3:30 PM EDT

Federal Interagency Reentry Council's 

Subcommittee on Children of 

Incarcerated Parents 

American Institutes for Research
ANN ADALIST-ESTRIN 

Director, National Resource 

Center On Children And 

Families Of The Incarcerated 

Rutgers University

Ann Adalist-Estrin is Director of the National Resource Center on Children and 

Families of the Incarcerated at Rutgers University, Camden New Jersey where 

she also teaches in the department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal 

Justice. Under Ann’s leadership, NRCCFI has provided training and consultation 

to government and non-government agencies and community programs in 48 

states including Sesame Street’s “Little Children, Big Challenges Campaign; 

Connecticut’s Children of Incarcerated Parents Initiative; OJJDP Youth Violence 

Prevention Forum Multi Discipline Trainings on Children of Incarcerated Parents 

and programs in Taiwan, Uruguay and Argentina. 

Ann is also a consultant to the Echoes of Incarceration video projects, a 

contributor to the video “Dependent Children of Incarcerated Parents: An 

Educational Video for Judges and Legal Professionals” recently released by the 

Pennsylvania Office of Children and Families in the Courts and author of The 

Impact of Parental Incarceration on Children in the Child Welfare System 

Curriculum (New Jersey Department of Children and Families, 2011) Mentoring 

Children of Prisoners Curriculum (CWLA, 2004) Responding to Children and 

Families of Prisoners: A Community Guide (FCN, 2003), and The Children of 

Incarcerated Parents Library on line at www.nrccfi.camden.rutgers.edu

In 2013 she was honored at the White House as a “Champion of Change” for 

her work as an advocate for children and families of the incarcerated. 

Ann is also a Child and Family Therapist at Samaritan Counseling Center in 

Jenkintown, PA and a trainer for the Healthy Steps for Young Children Pediatric 

Training Program at Boston University School of Medicine. 

SPEAKER BIOS | EDUCATORS ARE CRITICAL 

PARTNERS IN MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE 

LIVES OF CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED PARENTS 
DAVID OSHER 

Vice President and 

Institute Fellow

American Institutes for 

Research

David Osher, an American Institutes for Research vice president and Institute Fellow, 

is senior advisor to the Health and Social Development Program. His work focuses 

on collaboration; children’s services; prevention (school failure and drop out, 

emotional and behavioral disorders, and violence); social emotional learning; school 

climate; youth development; the social and emotional conditions for learning, 

teaching, and healthy development; and culturally competent interventions for 

children and youth with mental health problems and disorders and their families. 

Dr. Osher serves as principal investigator of three major research and technical 

assistance centers funded by the U.S. government: The National Center on Safe and 

Supportive Learning Environments, The Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center, 

and The National Evaluation and Technical Assistance Center for the Education of 

Children and Youth who are Neglected, Delinquent, or At Risk. Dr. Osher also serves 

as principal investigator of a contract to help the Interagency Working Group on 

Youth Programs improve the coordination and efficiency of youth programs across 

12 federal departments and executive agencies and to develop a national plan for 

youth aged 10-24. He and his colleagues have developed multiple student and staff 

school climate surveys and have done extensive research on social emotional 

learning and the conditions for learning, positive behavioral supports, and effective 

student support. 

Dr. Osher was academic dean of a liberal arts college and two professional schools 

of human services; has consulted with ministries, non-governmental organizations, 

educators and human service professionals across the world, serves on numerous 

expert panels and editorial boards; and has authored or co-authored over 325 

books, monographs, chapters, articles and reports. 

SPEAKER BIOS | EDUCATORS ARE CRITICAL 

PARTNERS IN MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE 

LIVES OF CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED PARENTS 
DWIGHT DAVIS 

Assistant Principal

Wheatley Education Campus

Washington, D.C.

City Bridge Education 

Innovation Fellow 

The Reverend Dwight Davis is a ten-year veteran teacher and proud product of the District of 

Columbia Public Schools. For the past decade, Davis has served Wheatley Education 

Campus (WEC) as a fifth-grade teacher, English & language arts coach, home visits 

coordinator and teacher lead. Now serving as the assistant principal of Wheatley, Davis is 

working to partner with parents and the community in an effort to continue to raise 

achievement levels. As both a teacher and administrator, he is most passionate about the 

need for, and use of, culturally and contextually relevant texts in reading instruction. 

Last year, Davis was selected as a City Bridge Education Innovation Fellow, a distinguished 

honor that led him across the nation, from Washington, D.C. to California. Through the 

program, Davis learned how to better personalize the educational experiences of his 

students, and he has applied that successfully in his WEC classroom. 

In 2012, Davis was a member of the Teach Plus D.C. Policy Fellowship, at which time he had 

the opportunity to learn about issues relevant to the local community, city and state and 

worked to create solutions on the ground for high-need students. He has also partnered with 

the Flamboyan Foundation as home visit trainer, attended the Aspen Ideas Festival as an 

Aspen scholar and worked to align curriculum resources with the Common Core State 

Standards via the District of Columbia Publics Schools Common Core Reading Corp. 

Prior to his teaching career, Davis played both professional and semi-professional basketball 

within the United States and abroad. He earned a master of divinity and master of arts in 

education from Princeton Theological Seminary, a certificate in teaching from Princeton 

University’s Program in Teacher Preparation, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology, history 

and education from Albright College. Davis also completed a certificate program in reading 

and literacy at George Washington University. 

Recently, Davis published “High IMPACT: It’s the Feedback That Adds Value” in the book, 

Learning from the Experts: Teacher Leaders on Solving America’s Education Challenges, and 

he has written several op-eds for the Huffington Post. 

SPEAKER BIOS | EDUCATORS ARE CRITICAL 

PARTNERS IN MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE 

LIVES OF CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED PARENTS 
KENDALL TIDWELL 

Freshman

Lamar University

Beaumont, TX

Kendall first became a part of the U.S. Dream Academy in the 5th grade when his 

grandmother enrolled him after she was able to get him and his sister out of foster 

care and legally adopted her grandchildren. With the on-going guidance of Dream 

Academy staff and his mentor, Kendall worked hard to learn to cope with the 

trauma, shame and anger he was experiencing at that time as a result of the many 

challenges he had faced in his young life, to include abuse, the arrest and 

incarceration of his mother, an incarcerated father, foster care and uncertainty 

about his place in the world. Dream Academy staff have opened up avenues of 

support and opportunity for Kendall including helping him to get into KIPP Academy 

for middle and high school. Over the past four years, Kendall has been an advocate 

for mentoring children of incarcerated parents and underserved youth. He uses his 

experiences of being in the foster care system and the impact of family 

incarceration as a platform to inspire other young people to overcome adversity. 

Kendall has shared his story on Huffington Post Live, KTSU Radio and as a speaker 

at the 2014 National KIPP Summit. He also represented DreamKids at the White 

House for a Forum on Mentoring Children of Incarcerated Parents, where he shared 

with congressional representatives and high-level White House officials the impact 

of mentoring in his life. Kendall has volunteered for two summers at the Dream 

Academy to mentor elementary students in our program. Kendall was selected by 

his peers to deliver the Graduate Address at his graduation ceremony this May. 

Kendall enjoys playing football, basketball, and is on a step team. On July 23, the 

recent graduate was invited to attend the Beating the Odds Summit hosted at the 

White House by First Lady Michelle Obama. 

Kendall is attending Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas where he is majoring in 

Sociology. 

SPEAKER BIOS | EDUCATORS ARE CRITICAL 

PARTNERS IN MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE 

LIVES OF CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED PARENTS