Meet Our Team

Phyllis Koppelman

Board Certified Eductional Therapist

Founder and President, Strategies For Learning

A graduate of University of California at Los Angeles with a B.A. in English/Speech, Phyllis went on to earn her M.A. and teaching credential in Special Education from the University of California at Berkeley. In her capacity as founder of Strategies For Learning, a private clinic in Oakland, California, Phyllis has managed the organization, provided educational therapy, consultation, assessment and advocacy for families and schools. For over twenty-five years, in both the public and private sectors, she also served as an elementary and secondary classroom teacher, reading specialist, curriculum designer, teacher trainer, and school administrator.

She is a contributing author (“From Assessment to Intervention”) to the textbook, The Clinical Practice of Educational Therapy: A Teaching Model, edited by Maxine Ficksman, MA and Jane Utley Adelizzi, PhD. (Routledge 2010)

Jean Bishop

Jean holds an M.A. in Special Education and an Education Specialist Teaching Credential, K-12th grade. Beginning as a one-on-one behavioral assistant in a preschool setting, she continued her path in the special education classroom as a middle school and elementary teacher before working as an Educational Therapist with students in the foster care system. She is also a certified Yoga Instructor.

Lauren Fong

Lauren earned her B.A. in Mathematics from UC Berkeley in December of 2008 and the most important thing she discovered about herself during college was how much she LOVES math!  Her favorite subject in school was Real Analysis, which is just a fancy name for Calculus Theory. She has tutored every mathematical subject through Differential Equations and Linear Algebra, in addition to statistics and chemistry.

Megan Hewitt

Megan received her B.A. in Anthropology and Religion from Florida State University in 2006. She was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship Grant in Indonesia and taught conversational English at a public high school in Central Java. She is currently a math tutor for the Prison University Project at San Quentin and is embarking on an MA/PhD program in the Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies at University of California at Berkeley.

Gabrielle Hoffman-Ellis

Gabrielle Hoffman-Ellis holds a California Teaching Credential and a M.A. in Education, both from the University of California at Los Angeles. She earned her B.A. in Art from University of California at Santa Cruz. Gabrielle has worked with students of all ages in a variety of settings, and taught first grade in Los Angeles before moving to the Bay Area. She speaks Spanish and studies Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art.

Laura Hoffman

Laura is an Educational Therapist specializing in the Orton-Gillingham and LindaMood-Bell methods of remediation for reading difficulties, as well as the Making Math Real method for students struggling with math. Laura received her certificate in Educational Therapy from Holy Names University. Her favorite activities include hiking, reading books by a fire and Zydeco dancing.

Megan Jensen

Megan has taught middle school math and science for eight years and holds two teaching credentials, a multiple subject and a single subject in biology.  Currently, she is pursuing two Master's degrees at Cal State East Bay, one in molecular biology and the other in Teacher Education for Curriculum Design.  She loves engaging students with her passion for molecular biology.

Jan Leuin

Jan Leuin has a B.A. in English from San Francisco State University, a certificate in Educational Therapy from Holy Names University and is working on her M.A. degree in education at Holy Names. Before becoming an educational therapist she was a computer programmer, systems analyst and human resources professional in the insurance and leasing industries as well as a stay-at-home mom and school volunteer.

Jelani Harper

Jelani Harper earned his Bachelor's degree in English from New York University. He is an experienced in-home and on-site tutor for students ranging from Kindergarten to adults. He has had formal training in standardized test preparation. Jelani is an expert in tutoring everything from passage-based reading to U.S. History. When he's not improving a student's language arts or core skills, he can be found happily writing a forthcoming comic book.

TaCorra Anderson -McCullough

TaCorra Anderson-McCullough earned her BA in Sociology, her Educational Therapy certificate, and is currently working toward a Masters in Education, all from Holy Names University. While she believes in the development of the whole student, her areas of special focus are elementary math, reading fluency, reading comprehension, and handwriting. TaCorra enjoys reading and writing for pleasure, but treasures the time she gets to spend with her family.

Michael Talkovsky

After a successful career in the world of accounting and finance, Michael Talkovsky went back to school to become an Educational Therapist (ET). A strong interest in education and the birth of his daughter inspired his career change. Mike holds a Master of Arts in Education and a certificate in Educational Therapy (ET) from Holy Names University, and is comfortable teaching reading, written expression, math, and study skills. Mike’s goal is to support young people in their areas of challenge by developing competence and pride in their strengths.