Vice President of Curriculum Services
Sheila Potter is the Vice President of Curriculum Services at Questar Assessment, Inc. In this position, Ms. Potter collaborates with textbook publishers and state departments of education in creating assessments that are aligned to curriculum objectives and instructional practice. She is frequently called upon to review, modify, and evaluate state content standards and objectives, and to design specifications and prototypes to appropriately assess those standards.
With over 20 years of experience as a middle school and high school classroom teacher and a Kindergarten—Grade 12 reading specialist, Ms. Potter understands the demands placed on schools and teachers. She relies on her strong educational background to provide guidance in the design and creation of Questar catalog products and professional development services related to writing instruction and assessment, literacy development in young children, content area reading, formative classroom assessment, and adolescent literacy issues.In addition to her work in Questar’s assessment development and product design, Ms. Potter develops and facilitates interactive training and review processes for state departments of education and other clients. Examples of such activities are assessment blueprint and content/sensitivity reviews, meetings focused on modification of content standards for English Language Learners and special education populations, item writer training, alignment studies, and workshops centered on improvement of grading practices. Ms. Potter has also led performance standard-setting sessions related to large-scale tests in over 15 states and in a variety of subject areas and grade levels.
Immediately prior to joining Questar, Ms. Potter was employed by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), where she coordinated Pre-Kindergarten—Grade 12 English language arts activities in curriculum, instruction, classroom assessment, and professional development for both pre-service and in-service teachers. She was an author and editor of many MDE resources, including the Michigan Literacy Progress Profile and the Michigan Curriculum Framework. During her tenure at MDE, Ms. Potter was invited to serve on advisory panels for various national initiatives, including GED, NAEP, and Voluntary National Tests.
Ms. Potter earned her Master of Arts degree in Reading/English from Michigan State University (MSU), where she also completed doctoral coursework in curriculum and instruction. She received her Bachelor’s degree in English at MSU, with minors in speech, theatre, and education.