Board of Directors

Terence Stewart, Ed.D., M.S.

President

Terence Stewart is a fervent advocate for exceptional learners, their families, and the special education teachers who support them. He proudly serves as a Special Education Coordinator, 504 Coordinator, special education teacher, and a core member of the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) team at a Title 1 school in the District of Columbia. Terence has played a vital role in revamping MTSS programs so that at-risk students receive evidence-based interventions at the first sign of struggle. Terence is also a key player in improving school-based policies for determining special education teachers’ caseloads to reduce teacher burnout and keep highly qualified teachers in the classroom. When Terence isn’t working with exceptional learners, he is grooming the next generation of teachers as an Adjunct Professor at American University’s School of Education. He also mentors first-year doctoral students.

Terence earned a doctorate and bachelor’s degree from American University, and an MS from Central Connecticut State University. His research interests include special education teacher caseload policies and teacher burnout and attrition. He has presented his research at conferences such as the Council for Exceptional Children Convention.

Kelly Edwards Fox, M.S. Ed.

Vice President

Kelly Edwards Fox has over fifteen years of experience instructing preschoolers to adults worldwide, including in Washington DC, Philadelphia, Ecuador, and China. Kelly earned a Master’s of Science in Education degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Language and Literacy; she holds a double major in Political Science and Spanish from Florida State University. Kelly currently works as a DCPS First Grade teacher and maintains four teaching licenses in Washington, DC for PreK-12 Reading Specialist, PreK-12 Bilingual Education, Elementary Education, and PreK-12 Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Since 2020, Kelly has provided consulting to and served families of dyslexic thinkers, focusing on assessment for educational interventions, learning plans, and student supports. Kelly is certified in the Orton-Gillingham approach and Structured Word Inquiry, as well as state-of-the-art language and literacy modalities. Kelly also has an extensive background in developing workshops, webinars, massive online courses, and mentorship plans for teachers and professional learning communities. Kelly is passionate about staying abreast of research on dyslexia, reading education and language acquisition, and believes that it is essential for education professionals to advocate across organizations, institutions and communities to ensure ALL students have access to high quality language and literacy education from preK-12. Fluent in Spanish and with prior experience as a bilingual teacher , Kelly is also a passionate advocate for biliteracy opportunities. Kelly began serving on the DC IDA board in 2023 and is currently serving as Vice President (2025-present) and Program Chair (2024-present).

Susan Danker, M.S.

Secretary

Susan Danker is a speech-language pathologist and partner of the Reading and Language Learning Center (RLLC). She holds a Master’s degree in Communications Science and Disorders from Radford University, a Bachelor of Science in Communications Science and Disorders from Radford University and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Virginia Tech. She has been treating adults and children demonstrating disorders in phonology, articulation, language, reading and fluency since 1999. She also has experience with individuals exhibiting hearing impairments, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders as well as emotionally impaired children.

Susan is fully licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia as well as DC. She is a member of the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) and the International Dyslexia Association (IDA). She holds a certification as a Structured Literacy Teacher fromThe Center For Effective Reading Instruction since 2018. She began serving on the DC IDA Board in 2024 and is currently serving as the Secretary (2025).

Jeanett Tang-Yonemoto, M.B.A., M.A.

Treasurer

Jeanett Tang-Yonemoto has over two decades of experience in finance at Bankers Trust/Deutsche Bank and Fannie Mae. She subsequently founded her own consulting business specializing in counterparty risks. Jeanett has held leadership positions on the boards and executive committees of independent schools’ parent associations and the board of a neighborhood non-profit, where she served as treasurer, co-chair of speaker conferences, and special event chair.

Jeanett holds MBA/MA joint degrees from The Wharton School and Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She received a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Sarah Irvine Belson, Ph.D.

Advisor

Dr. Sarah Irvine Belson serves as the Executive Director of the Institute for Innovation in Education (IIE) and is a Professor of Special Education and Early Literacy Intervention Leadership in the School of Education (SOE) at American University in Washington, DC. Dr. Belson earned her BA, MAE, and PhD from Arizona State University (ASU) and has worked in schools, school systems, industry, and higher education for over 30 years. Dr. Belson has supervised ECE, Elementary, and Secondary special education pre-service and in-service teachers in Arizona, and DC Public, Public Charter, and Independent Schools. Her current research explores educational opportunity for children with disabilities and teacher education policy in special education and teacher wellbeing. She also served or is serving as PI for a number of sponsored research projects, including funding from the US Department of Education, National Science Foundation, and DC’s Office of the State Superintendent of Education. Dr. Belson’s experience as a K12 special educator and her focus on interventions to increase educational equity and opportunity for children with disabilities is a cornerstone of her research and teaching.