Jacob Walker is the sole proprietor and principal consultant with Effective Education Solutions. He has been supporting learning his whole adult life: early on through providing technical support, and then becoming a classroom teacher, and then co-founded a charter school where he was a coordinator.
Through each of these stages, he continued to bring the expertise he gained with him, so as a teacher, he continued to be a technologist; and as an administrator, he brought his experience in the classroom with him, to develop schools and programs that would be effective in supporting students and society.
Jacob is open to full-time employment as well as consulting, and will bring his skills and years of experience to all projects he takes on.
- Focused on how to use knowledge from the neurosciences to improve classroom instruction and education in general.
- Placed in the 99th Percentile on the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal
- Graduated with Honors
- Originally in the Bachelors of Vocational Education Program
- Transferred to Charter Oak State College
- Earned 4th Place within Sierra College in the 1995-1996 National Mathematics Competition
- School Development
- Primary author of the Charter Petition
- Primary author of the Public Charter Schools Grant, awarded $575,000
- Developed most initial board policies
- Served as teacher credentialing subject-matter expert
- Coordinating Academics
- Planned and managed the development of standards-based curriculum, instruction, and assessment plans and strategies.
- Provided subject matter expertise regarding student transfer credits and other prior learning assessments.
- Provided professional development to teachers and lead teachers.
- Educational Technology
- Oversaw the IT Department
- Developed parts of a school data dashboard, including a weekly snapshot of attendance and revenue.
- Customized and integrated the school's data systems to fit the school and student needs better.
- As a Professor, taught three sections of Spreadsheet Essentials (COMPAPP123)
- Was a member of the Quality Student Feedback team, developing guidelines for faculty about providing feedback to students.
- Participated in Full-Time Faculty Meetings and was part of several key policy recommendations.
- Performed institutional research to understand online retention rates
- Automated several processes through the use of advanced spreadsheets (including VBA programming)
- Educational Leadership
- Federally designated Chief Financial Aid Director (2011-2013)
- Career and Technical Education Department Chairperson (2005-2009 & 2011-2013)
- Policy Author and Adviser
- Technology Instructor
- Instructed Microsoft Windows, Internet, and Security
- Instructed Microsoft Office XP, 2003, and 2007
- Created and instructed applied academic curriculum for Microsoft Office courses including:
- PowerPoint with Interpersonal Skills
- Word with Business English
- Excel with Real-World Math
- Databases with Analysis
- Instructed advanced (work study) technician program
- Instructing Introduction to Health Informatics for medical para-professionals
- Institutional Researcher
- WASC and Council on Occupational Education Postsecondary Accreditation Coordinator
- Primary Wikipedia editor for entry "Twin Rivers Adult School", contributing editor for "Twin Rivers Unified School District"
- Primary researcher for data driven decision making
- Adult Secondary Education Student Persistence: Improving Institutional Methods
- Correlation of Student Age to Student Persistence
- Correlation and Possible Causation of Cohort Size to Student Persistence in Open Entry Courses
- Primary researcher for grant applications, accreditation and mandated reports
- Educational Technologist
- Chairperson of the Technology Action Team (2004-2013)
- Primary author of School Wide Technology Plan
- In-house Technology In-service Professional Development Trainer
- Database Technician & Administrator
- Lead Technician and Trainer
- Founding employee who helped take the company from from start-up to the maturation of a medium-sized company.
- Supported users with Internet questions and problems via the telephone
- Provided technology classes to customers on how to use their computer and the Internet
- Provided subject-matter expertise to other technicians
- Being part of a start-up company, I was involved in many other areas including management, marketing, and technical writing.
- Board Member - Treasurer
- Became a board member after leaving employment with the company.
- Deliberated over decisions affecting the entire company
- Specific issues included health benefits for employees, and negotiations about a trademark dispute with a local company
- As Treasurers, I worked with the accountant, president, and CEO about financial issues
- Provided phone support throughout the United States to customers who were blind or visually impaired
- Solved customer problems with adaptive technology, including screen readers and braille displays.
Our committee has analyzed course enrollments and course descriptions for Information and Communication Technologies courses throughout California, learned about current legislation, and provided feedback about industry trends that are relevant to California ICT classrooms.
As part of a 3-person writing team, revised the State of California's Model Curriculum Standards for Information and Communication Technologies. I worked most on improving the rigor of the Support and Services Pathway and the Software and Systems Development Pathway, which have now been adopted by the California State Board of Education.
Reviewed the 2005 Model Curriculum Standards for California for the Information Technology sector. Suggested revisions, with one of the most major being the adoption of the more globally recognized term "Information and Communication Technology" (ICT) instead of just "Information Technology." Several areas of standards were combined and rearranged.
This committee was instrumental in revising the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Accrediting Commission of Schools, Postsecondary accreditation, and to transition the accreditation from being the Title IV purely compliance-based model to being an improvement model similar to WASC ACS's other types of accreditation.
Walker, J. J. (2017). The Legal Validity and Constitutional Necessity for California Adult-Serving Charter Schools. The Adult Charter School Knowledge Center.
Walker, J. J. (2017). Collecting Social Security Numbers for WIOA Title II in California: A Legal Research Report. The Adult Charter School Knowledge Center.
Walker, J. J. (2015). Complying with California Education Code 51225.3(B) Through Integrated Curriculum Taught by CTE Credentialed Teachers.
Cataldo, B., Frezzo, D., Grotegut, R., Hu Dahl, I., Martinez, J., Niemitz, M., … Walker, J. (2013). Information and Communication Technologies Model Curriculum Standards. California Department of Education.
Walker, J. J. (2013). Why MOOCs Might Be Hindered by the Definition of Correspondence Education. SSRN Legislation & Statutory Interpretation EJournal, 5(9).
Walker, J. J. (2012). Integrating Literature into Programs for Medical Paraprofessionals. SSRN Ethics EJournal, 5(121).
Walker, J. J. (2011). Missing a “Trillion”: How do we know if we are teaching the right things? SSRN eLibrary.
Walker, J. J. (2010). A Contribution to the Self-Study of the Postsecondary Accreditation Protocol. In SSRN eLibrary. Temecula, CA.
Walker, J. J. (2010). Minesweeper and Hypothetical Thinking Action Research & Pilot Study. Effective Education Project.
Walker, J. J. (2008). Open Letter to Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda Regarding Virtual Onshoring.
Jacob also works with an excellent group of affiliated consultants to ensure that the right talent is available to get a job done.