Joseph A. Hawkins is a Senior Study Director at Westat in Rockville, MD.  Prior to his Westat employment, Mr. Hawkins was an evaluation specialist in the Department of Educational Accountability at the Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, where he managed school-based research and evaluation studies.  During his 19-year career with the school district, his research covered a wide variety of topics, such as student discipline, curricula, teacher training and induction, graduate follow-ups, technology, and school reform.  Mr. Hawkins was also an elementary school teacher in the Peace Corps, and a preschool teacher and community youth organizer at a Washington, DC, settlement house.  He has also taught developmental reading at both Howard University and Prince George’s Community College (MD).  His publications include newspaper columns, book chapters, and journal articles on equity, racism, and intolerance. “Teaching Tools,” a column written by Mr. Hawkins for Teaching Tolerance Magazine and published by the Southern Poverty Law Center, won the 1994 EdPress Association of America Distinguished Achievement Award.  Additionally, he served on the Board of Directors of the Montgomery County Education Association (an affiliate of the National Education Association), and he currently serves on the Board of Directors of TransCen, Inc., a national nonprofit organization that helps adults with disabilities find and maintain meaningful employment.