Program Specialist EducationForward Phone: 336-315-7417 Send e-mail
Jacinda Goodwin is a Program Specialist with EducationForward. Jacinda originally joined SERVE with the National Center for Homeless Education in the Fall of 2016. Before joining NCHE, Ms. Goodwin was the state coordinator for homeless education, dropout prevention, truancy, and alternative education at the Maine Department of Education. After completing undergraduate work in psychology, Ms. Goodwin was awarded a master’s degree in clinical/behavioral psychology from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. Jacinda has been an adjunct professor at a local community college in Maine for over a decade, teaching classes in psychology and mental health.
Eric Grebing is a Project Director and has been on the SERVE team since June 2016. His projects involve management, research, evaluation, data analysis, and consulting for various educational inititatives, including the Region 6 Comprehensive Center and SERVE’s Early College Research Center. Eric also serves as co-director of the National Center for Homeless Education (NCHE). Before joining SERVE, Eric taught high school math and science and led research and development at an education non-profit, both in North Carolina. Drawing from these experiences, Eric enjoys helping teams make and understand their impact through data utilization/visualization, program evaluation, and technical assistance to improve educational outcomes for all students. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, an M.Ed. in Educational Leadership from Concordia University, and a Ph.D. in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis from North Carolina State University. Eric also holds a PMP certification from the Project Management Institute.
Director Early College Research Center Phone: 336-315-7415 Send e-mail
Dr. Julie Edmunds is Director of the Early College Research Center at SERVE, where she leads a team doing research on the early college model and related topics. She has been studying early college and dual enrollment for almost 20 years; her research includes a 17-year experimental study of the impact of early colleges and evaluations of multiple large-scale efforts across the country to apply early college principles to traditional high schools. She is also Principal Investigator of a $5 million grant examining the impact, implementation, and cost of North Carolina’s dual enrollment program, as well as a grant examining the transferability of college credits earned in high school. Dr. Edmunds additionally conducts evaluation and research on other school improvement topics using designs ranging from randomized controlled trials to developmental, formative approaches. She has published multiple award-winning articles and has written, with colleagues, a book on Early Colleges as a Model for Schooling.
Program Specialist EducationForward Phone: 336-315-7438 Send e-mail
Christina Endres is a Program Specialist with EducationForward. She started at SERVE with the National Center for Homeless Education and worked with the National Foster Care Exchange. During her 10-year tenure as a state coordinator for homeless education, she also served as Even Start state coordinator and president of NAEHCY. She also coordinated the monitoring of several state and federal programs that served at-risk populations. Christina started her career providing direct services to families, including mental health, home-based, and family preservation services, as well as mentoring and helping youth build independent living skills. She strives regularly to be the human being her two hound dogs believe her to be.
Early Childhood Program Specialist Phone: Send e-mail
Carla Garrett is the Early Childhood Program Specialist at SERVE where she provides support, technical assistance, and policy guidance across early learning projects. Prior to joining the SERVE team, she served as the Title I Preschool Consultant at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. She is most proud of her leadership efforts involving a collaborative effort supporting local coordination of services among early learning partners using the Every Student Succeeds Act as a lever and NC’s Pre-K/Kindergarten Demonstration professional development initiative where she continued to grow with expert preschool and kindergarten teacher leaders as they improved their practices, resulting in better outcomes for children.
Prior to becoming a state consultant at the NC Department of Public Instruction, Carla worked as a director and school administrator with Person County Schools. She provided overall leadership of state and federally funded preschool programs serving children in high quality, comprehensive classrooms.
Carla holds a Bachelor of Science in Child Development from Meredith College and a Master of Education in Preschool Education and Development from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her focus on relationships and passion for appropriate practice contribute to her mission of providing the best possible experiences for young children and their families. A few of Carla’s favorite activities include making memories with her family, laughing with her best friends, enjoying the lake, and relaxing in the NC mountains.
Samantha Durrance joined the SERVE Center in February 2022 as a Program Specialist for the Region 6 Comprehensive Center. Prior to joining SERVE, Samantha was a Policy Analyst at the Southern Regional Education Board, where she gained a great deal of knowledge about early literacy and dyslexia. She has been involved in several state task forces and committees related to dyslexia policy. Her current professional expertise includes policy research and analyzing the implementation of state initiatives. In another life, Samantha served as a Student Support Team Coordinator at an elementary school and an eighth grade mathematics teacher at a middle school, both in Georgia. She holds a Master of Arts in Teaching from Emory University and a Master of Public Policy from Georgia State University.
Samantha currently lives in Texas with her husband, Matthew, and their son, James. They enjoy exploring local playgrounds and spending time together as a family. In the event that she has free time, Samantha enjoys working on home improvement projects, watching shows, and playing video games.
South Carolina SEA Principal Liaison Region 6 Comprehensive Center Phone: 803-269-7857 Send e-mail
Don D. Doggett joined the SERVE Center in October 2019 as the Region 6 Comprehensive Center SEA Principal Liaison for South Carolina. Prior to serving the RC6, Don worked as a Superintendent of Schools, served as a Senior Technical Assistance Consultant at SEDL at the American Institutes for Research, and served as the Director of an Early Head Start Child Care Partnership (EHS-CCP) Grant. A former state turnaround principal of two elementary schools, Don worked in urban and rural parts of the state. Don’s interests include leadership development, school improvement, school turnaround, reading and literacy, data-driven decision-making, change process, professional learning communities, technology, and family and community engagement.
Operations Support Specialist Phone: 336-334-3875 Send e-mail
Tina Danner-Groves joined the SERVE Center as Operations Support Specialist in April 2020. Before starting at SERVE, Tina worked as a project manager for a National Science Foundation grant (focusing on out-of-school STEM experiences and their effects on youth STEM identity) in the UNCG School of Education, an administrative assistant for the UNCG Educational Research Methodology Department, and as an educator, serving as a GED Coordinator for a Department of Labor grant (juvenile justice rehabilitation and job training) in Tampa, Florida. Although her career path has led away from the classroom and toward more supportive roles, education is her passion, and Tina enjoys providing support for those who strive to make education better and accessible for all.
When she’s not working, Tina enjoys spending time with her wife and three cats, taking pictures of local flora and fauna, and curling up with a good book or video game.
Communication Specialist Phone: 336-315-7443 Send e-mail
Curtis Burgins joined SERVE, Inc. as Technology Support Manager in October 2020. In 2022, he moved to the SERVE Center side of things as a Communication Specialist. Before starting at SERVE, Curtis worked as a senior Technical Support Engineer for Dell EMC, where he provided technical administration and problem resolution for issues in customer environments. He was a student athlete at North Carolina A&T State University, where he was just recently inducted into the school’s Sports Hall of Fall for his accomplishments on the football field. In his time off, he enjoys playing golf, watching sports, and spending time with his two kids.
North Carolina SEA Principal Liaison Region 6 Comprehensive Center Phone: 919-437-1918 Send e-mail
Donna Brown joined the SERVE Center in October 2019 as the North Carolina SEA Principal Liaison for the Region 6 Comprehensive Center (RC6). Prior to joining the RC6 team, Donna served as the Director of Federal Program Monitoring and Support for the NC Department of Public Instruction. She has worked thirty-seven years in education, beginning her career as a third-grade teacher in the Foothills of NC. She has served in multiple leadership roles focusing on instructional excellence, continuous school improvement, and services to underserved populations.
In her free time, Donna enjoys spending time with her granddaughters and working on home improvement projects.
Jacinda Goodwin
Samantha Durrance
Tina Danner-Groves
