Carrie Jasper is the Director of Outreach to Parents and Families in the Office of Communications and Outreach (OCO) at the U. S. Department of Education (ED).  She is also the writer and editor of two monthly newsletters for parents and families, Family, School and Community Engagement, and Touching Base specifically for military families.  To further the Secretary’s vision for parents she has held parent camps, parent forums, listen and learn sessions, roundtables, and summits across the country to train, educate, and inform educators, administrators, parents, students and the faith-based and community of the importance of engaging families and partnering with schools.

She has written several publications for ED, among them Parent Power, Empowering Parents School Box, Tips for Reading Tutors, the Activity Book (for students) and Preparing for College. 

Prior to coming to OCO, Ms. Jasper worked in Office of Elementary and Secondary Education for the Title I and Impact Aid Programs. She is a former teacher of the D.C. Public Schools and the Archdiocese of Washington.  Ms. Jasper holds a Master’s in Math Education from Howard University and a Bachelor’s from the District of Columbia Teachers College.

Julie Pile first became engaged in her children’s school when her daughter was in kindergarten by assisting the PTA with their website. As a full-time working mom she worked on the website outside of school hours. Through attendance at PTA meetings, she was determined to make a difference and make it so that all parents/families felt welcomed at PTA functions. She became President of the PTA and was invited to participate in a program sponsored by the The Prichard Committee for Educational Excellence called The Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership. This program gave her the knowledge and tools to start working even more closely with the schools in her district. In 2017, she was honored to be the inaugural recipient of the Prichard’s Beverly Nickels Raimondo Parent Leadership Award, in honor of Ms. Raimondo, the found of the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership program. On Twitter chats Julie leads discussions on getting more families, guardians, mentors and the community involved in education. She is a Parent Ambassador in the Boone County School System and in 2015 was recognized as the Bammy Award People’s Choice Parent Leadership recipient. Julie has served in multiple PTA positions including most recently Social Media Commissioner for the Kentucky State PTA and 14th District PTA. She is currently the Chief Operating Officer for ParentCamp.org and serves as a support to the US Department of Education for ParentCamps held in Washington, DC She leads a team of parents, school personnel and community members in ParentCamps held in Northern Kentucky twice a year.

Barbara Scherr is a Family Involvement/Education Coordinator at the Maryland State Department of Education. Ms. Scherr provides leadership and technical assistance to Maryland's 24 districts ensuring that the requirements of ESSA pertaining to parent and family engagement are being fully implemented.