Senior Reviewers

John Bartholomew

John has devoted many years to primary and elementary education, as a teacher and headteacher (principal) in London, and then as a school inspector in a London district. He is author of the report Reading at Seven, published by the London Borough of Richmond in 1994.  

John has served as a freelance consultant since 2000, providing advice to a range of primary schools, with particular emphasis on self-evaluation, school leadership, and improvement. During this time he has worked as professional developer, a senior associate of Canterbury Christ Church University, and as a school improvement partner in a number of British primary schools. He has been a senior reviewer with Cornerstone Literacy since its foundation. John is also a writer of children's books and has had two published. He is currently working on a professional book, Growing the Perfect Primary School, which draws extensively on his work with Cornerstone Literacy, as well as his experiences in England.

Janet Brown

Janet initially came to work for Cornerstone in 2003 as a literacy fellow and senior reviewer. She worked in several school districts as a literacy fellow and has led numerous school reviews.

She has more than 45 years of experience in education that includes teaching, serving as a Title I Reading Improvement teacher and district reading resource teacher, and managing the Reading Excellence Act grant, and supervising Reading English Language Arts/Professional Development in Cleveland, Ohio. In the latter role, she supervised the literacy work and professional development in Cleveland elementary schools and worked as the district strategy manager for Cornerstone.

Janet currently serves as a Cornerstone Literacy senior reviewer and believes that the school review process provides valuable professional development opportunities for reviewers from school districts, as well as evidence-based data for the schools that are being reviewed.

Martha Roberts

Martha initially came to work for Cornerstone in 2001 as district liaison and senior reviewer. As liaison, she was responsible for overseeing and coordinating Cornerstone’s work in several districts and worked with other staff to develop tools and align district and school-based literacy work. 

She is a graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a Masters + 35 in Elementary Education and Administration. She has more than 45 years of experience in education that includes teaching, having served as a teacher of reading and curriculum positions in two district administrations. As executive director of curriculum and instructional services in Jackson, Mississippi, she was responsible for district-wide comprehensive reform, professional development, and Title I. In that role she supervised Cornerstone’s first literacy work in three elementary schools. Later, as assistant to the superintendent, she was project director of a National Science Foundation grant, liaison for New American Schools, and a trainer for the Mississippi Department of Education’s assessment system.

Martha currently serves as a Cornerstone Literacy senior reviewer. She supports the Cornerstone monitoring and evaluation process and data-driven feedback for schools as a valuable component of evidence-based literacy implementation.

Johnnie Tankersley

Johnnie taught kindergarten for 30 years and was a Cornerstone voach at Sycamore Elementary School in Talladega County, Alabama for four years. She also served four years as a Cornerstone literacy fellow, working with schools in Mississippi, Connecticut, South Carolina, and Georgia. She holds a Masters degree in Early Childhood Education, and the experience and desire to encourage other teachers to learn more about teaching literacy. She has been a senior reviewer to Cornerstone for seven years, while also consulting on other matters.

She has been married to Randy, a retired school principal, for 42 years, has two daughters (Sharon and Holley), and two awesome grandchildren, Emma and Tank.