Mary Farone Cala has over 30 years of experience in education as a literacy practitioner, researcher, and instructional leader. She has held various roles including director of learning enrichment, associate professor, literacy teacher, and district trainer. Throughout her career, she has focused on improving student literacy and performance, and innovating with technology. She has authored and adapted several grants and projects, and her students have shown improved proficiency rates on standardized tests. Currently, she works remotely providing curriculum and grant writing support.

1. MARY FARONE CALA, Ph.D
“Instructional Leader: Grant Writer,Researcher &Literacy Practitioner
Curriculum Specialist, Digital Web 2.0 T echnology
BIOGRAPHY
When Mary was in seventh grade in New York, her English teacher said her writing held promise. In high
school Mary spent several years volunteering with the Zonta Club at the Al Siegel Center in Rochester,
New York. Her love of learning and her desire to study how humans learned spawned her B.A. degree in
Psychology and of course, English Literature. She began and defined her academic career in the
Learning Development Center at Rochester Institute of Technology. Dr. Paul Kazmierski opened the first
Learning Center of its kind nationally at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Under his direction, Mary
trained, diagnosed and taught developmental Adult learners Writing, Reading and Math on campus. At an
off-campus facility she carried out the same responsibilities for K-12 learners. The LDC at RIT propelled
her to obtain an M.S.ed in Reading Diagnosis, Assessment and Clinical Teaching.
Inspired by Dr. Kazmierski, Mary simulated his learning approaches when she became the Director of
Learning Enrichment at Lynn University in Florida. She completed Myer’s Briggs training in Kusnacht,
Switzerland at the C.G. Jung Institute. With her new found knowledge she became a trainer and teacher
for Broward County Public Schools. She researched and wrote a major government grant submitting it
the BCPS Grant’s office. With the help of the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society she developed The Living
History Cultural Museum. The grant was funded initially for $100,000 and has sustained funding two
decades later, as the Dillard School Museum in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Wanting to continue her education, Mary was admitted into a doctoral program at the Pennsylvania State
University in 1997. Dr. Jamie Myers, Dr. Pat Shannon and Dr. Joe Kincheloe led her to Research Writing
and Technology. She studied Language, Literacy and Leadership while completing a Teaching and
Supervisory Assistantship. In the summers, she taught at Penns College of Technology graduate level
education courses. All but doctorate, Mary went to Niagara University to teach Language Arts Methods to
pre-service and in-service teachers. She developed a partnership with the Rochester City School District’s
select underperforming schools. She presented strategies in a real-world classroom for Middle learners
and in-service and pre-service teachers. The focus was Reading and Writing. In addition, she led a
summer institute of Middle School Principals from the RCSD training principals to synthesize and analyze
data to prepare teachers and to improve literacy proficiency rates for the next school year.
The role of a creative leaderis not to have all the ideas; it’s to
create a culture where everyone can have ideas and feel valued.
Ken Robinson

2. Mary returned to the Broward County School District teaching Literacy and coaching teachers at the
Middle level, while caring for her elderly parents in Fort Lauderdale. Wanting to improve student
performance and innovate with Technology, Mary began teaching students how to conduct Inquiry
Research in History and Science. For the next seven years, both in Florida and Pennsylvania she
published student research in individual texts and online. This was long before the Common Core
Standards were introduced. Her students have increased their performance on standardized tests
consistently since 1999. Reading proficiency rates improved by 25 – 35% in Florida, Pennsylvania and
New York.
She has coordinated, collaborated, identified and disseminated research grant opportunities for Broward
County Public Schools and the Broward Education Foundation. She has served on the Broward Education
Expo Committee (Nova University) since 2009 and has proofread their annual catalogs. She has provided
pre-award assistance to more than 50 teachers in Broward. Focusing on Instructional Leadership in
Literacy/Inquiry Research she has authored “The Living History Project” for the Broward County School
District. As the disseminator more than 30 teachers have adapted this project ($15,000). For
Ramblewood Middle School Mary has written the STEM initiatives (2013) citing the school as a Pre-
engineering cluster infusing Digital Web 2.0 technology. The school will receive RTTT-D funding
$500,000 over four years beginning 2014-2018.
One colleague writes "She engages with great passion creating a lot of dynamic energy as she
continuously demonstrates innovation to transform limited perceptions into new knowledge.”
MILESTONES
1981 – 1986 B.A. SUNY Geneseo; M.S.ed Nazareth College
Instructor at Rochester Institute of Technology and the Finger Lakes
Community College.
1986 – 1989 Lynn University, Florida
Assistant Professor, and Director of Learning Enrichment
1989 – 1997 Broward County School District
Literacy Teacher and District Trainer
1997 – 1999 Penn State University (sabbatical leave Broward)
Teaching Assistant: Language Arts, Writing Workshop, Children’s
Literature. Supervision Assistant for Literacy Pre-Service Teachers
Pi Lamda Theta; Muticultural Task Force

3. 2001 – 2004 Niagara University
Associate Professor; NCATE accreditation committee
TESOL, LSA, CRA, NCTE, AERA Conference and paper presenter
2008-2o09 State College Area School District, PA
Curriculum Specialist and Coordinated Virtual STEMCamp for Middle
School Girls, Pennsylvania State University
2009-2014 Adapter Grant Awards, Broward Education Foundation
2011-2013 Disseminator Award, Broward Education Foundation
2013-2018 RTTT-D(Race To The Top) Award
Digital 5-8 Pathways to Personalized Learning Initiative, Broward County
Public Schools, Ramblewood Middle
LOCATION New York, Pennsylvania, Florida or by REMOTE