Meet the Elevate Team

Sandra Briley, M.Ed., ADC-C
​Owner/Director & Special Education Advocate

Sandra earned her Master's Degree in Special Education from Texas Woman's University and holds teaching certifications in EC-4 Elementary Education and EC-12 Special Education. She is also certified by the American Institute of Healthcare Professionals as an Attention Deficit Consultant. She studied Special Education Advocacy with Wright's Law and is passionate about educating and counseling parents of students with disabilities. Sandra taught in both public and private school settings for over 15 years. She enjoys helping students find success in learning and enjoys working with parents and teachers to do the same.  When Sandra isn't working with students she enjoys family time, reading, walking, and learning new intervention strategies.

Vee Bradway, Science Instructor

Vee has been a versatile tutor at Elevate for three years. Her primary focus is in math and science for all grade levels, but she has also tutored reading and social studies. She grew up in Canton and graduated from Canton High School in 2022. Vee graduated with honors and an Associate's of Liberal Arts from TVCC. She is now studying at The University of Texas at Tyler for a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. Upon graduation, Vee plans to attend medical school to become a doctor of medicine. She is passionate about learning and has always been academically focused. She enjoys sharing this passion to help her students grow and overcome challenges.

Tessia Cain, Social Emotional Learning Interventionist

Tessia has a passion for working with children and has spent most of her life helping to make a difference in the lives of our youth. She has taught all ages of preschool, worked with children with special needs in public school and later became a Daycare Director. As a Social Emotional Learning Interventionist, her goal is to get to know each child as an individual and help them understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships and make responsible decisions.

Amanda Casso, Certified Teacher, Elementary Reading & Math

Amanda is a graduate of Texas A&M-Commerce. She has taught 15 years
ranging from 1st-8th grade. She enjoys teaching the most when the “light
bulb” turns on and the student understands a concept. She believes every
child has the potential to be successful with diligence from their teacher,
parents, and themselves. She believes it’s important to respect everyone no
matter their age and provide an environment that works with their learning
style. She has 3 teenage children and a wonderful family. She enjoys
spending time with them and being outdoors.

Kelly Cox, Elementary Math Tutor

Kelly has been a Math Paraprofessional at Canton Intermediate School for 16 years. She loves kids and math and she knows how to make math fun! Kelly has been married to her husband, Craig for 30 years. She has a daughter, Shelby, and will be getting a new son-in-law soon. Her son, Cameron, also recently married. When Kelly is not tutoring students she enjoys shopping, gardening, and spending time with family.

Andy Davis, Math & Science Instructor

Andy has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Southern Methodist University and has worked in Engineering and IT. Before pursuing his degree he was an active United States Marine for 8 years. He has a breadth of experience in Math, Science, and Engineering. Andy is married and has one daughter in elementary school. 

Leanne Davis, M.S., CCC-SLP, Speech-Language Pathologist

​Leanne has been a school-based Speech-Language Pathologist for 7 years, with six of those years serving Van Zandt County. She graduated from Baylor University with a Master of Science degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Leanne is licensed by the state of Texas and has her Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech Language Hearing Association. Leanne has evaluated and treated children ranging in age from 3 years through high school. She has served children with a range of disorders, including articulation, phonological, language, fluency, and pragmatics. In her spare time, Leanne enjoys spending time with her husband Chris and daughter Sydney.

Taylor Deen, M.S., CCC-SLP, Speech Language Pathologist

Taylor has been a speech language pathologist for 9 years, serving children in the public schools for two years and in the home health setting for seven years.  Taylor received Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science degrees in speech-langauge pathology from the University of North Texas.  She has treated a wide range of pediatric disorders from birth to 18 years of age.  This treatment experience includes early language development and delay, articulation and phonological disorders, and pediatric feeding and swallowing disorders. She also has many years of experience with the use of augmentative/alternative communication in children with a variety of medical diagnoses.  In her spare time, Taylor enjoys reading, traveling, cheering on her favorite sports teams, and spending time with friends and family.

Frank Dykes, Ed.D., Advocate & Educational Diagnostician

Dr. Frank Dykes has more than 37 years of experience in education as a general education teacher, special education teacher, educational diagnostician, special education director, and university professor. Dr. Dykes has several publications to his credit and is a speaker at the international, national, and state level. Dr. Dykes is Past-President for the Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children. Dr. Dykes is a Distinguished Teaching Professor and the program director for the educational diagnostician program at The University of Texas at Tyler.

Terri Easley, M.Ad., Educational Diagnostician and Certified Teacher

Terri Easley has been an educator in Henderson and Van Zandt Counties for 28 years. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Interdisciplinary Studies as well as a Master of Science degree in Educational Administration. She holds teaching certifications in Elementary Self-Contained, Elementary English, Special Education, and English as a Second Language. Along the way of serving students, she also obtained her Principal certification. Her heart has always been in working with students with special needs. After spending the majority of her career in the classroom, she was drawn to the work of helping students identify and understand their unique needs and so obtained her Educational Diagnostician certification. In this capacity she has worked with not only public school students but also private school and homeschool students in crafting a learning plan for success.

Cne' Guy, Elementary Math & Special Education Teacher

Cne’ is a graduate of Canton High School, TVCC, and UTTyler. She has taught for  19 years and is certified in Special Education, Math, English Language Arts and Reading, Generalist EC-4, and Business. She has worked with students of all ages, from kindergarten to high school and beyond (GED Prep). She believes that every child is unique and has the potential to succeed, and has made it her mission to help each and every one of her students reach their full potential. She enjoys creating positive and engaging learning environments and is always looking for new and innovative ways to help her students learn and grow.
Cne' has three children who are all graduates of Canton High School.
Outside of the classroom, she enjoys spending time with family, her animals, and reading. She is excited to welcome her first grandbaby soon!

Angie Jordan, Pre-K/K Teacher & Administrative Assistant

Angie has been teaching Pre-K and Kindergarten for 9 years. Her experience includes positions with First Baptist Church, Kingdom Kid's Preschool in Sunnyvale and First Baptist Canton, Parent's Day Out in Canton. She teaches Kindergarten Awana classes for First Baptist Church, Edgewood, and currently teaches in Elevates Homeschool Support Program. Angie is happily married to Michael, her husband of 20 years, and they have two sons, Aaron and Austin.

Dean R. Kinney, MPA, Community Programs Partner & Advocate

Dean holds a Master's Degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in criminal justice. He worked in law enforcement  and taught criminal justice at Kilgore College and was an instructor at the East Texas Police Academy. During that time he found a passion for literacy and began reading for area elementary schools. He retired after 30 years, and for the last decade has maintained a busy schedule reading at Christmas time, for Texas Day, Dr. Seuss Day and others. When Dean is not reading to students and promoting literacy, you will find him training and working with horses and their owners.

Sarah Mullen, Certified Math Teacher

Sarah graduated from Haskell High School, near Abilene, TX and attended Texas Tech University. She moved to Lakeland, Florida where she received her B.S. from Florida Southern College. She completed her teacher certification in secondary mathematics for grades 6-12 at Sam Houston State University. She teaches at Canton High School and is currently teaching Algebra 1 and Math Models. She has 20 years experience teaching junior high and high school math. She has taught 6th-7th-8th grade math, Algebra 1 & 2, Geometry, PreCalculus, Financial Algebra, Finance Math, & Math Models. She loves teaching and she has a passion for helping students become successful.  As a parent of a child on the autism spectrum, she knows first-hand the struggles that a child may experience in the classroom and the importance of good communication between parents and teachers. Sarah's outside interests include playing tennis on a ladies tennis league, playing with her 2 Boston terriers, and watching movies with her youngest son. She travels to Florida frequently to visit her family and friends.

Jasie Perry, Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT)

Jasie has been an educator for 18 years.  She graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University in 2003 with a Bachelors of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies.  She taught Kindergarten, First, and Second Grade in Tyler ISD from 2003-2008 and then became a First Grade teacher at Canton Elementary School.  In 2007 she switched positions to work with struggling students in the area of reading as a Reading Intervention teacher and Dyslexia Specialist.  In 2018 she went through training to become a Dyslexia Therapist with Scottish Rite Hospital via McKinney Christian Academy.   Her duties in this capacity have been to assess and identify students for dyslexia and service them utilizing the Take Flight dyslexia therapist intervention program from Scottish Rite Hospital.  Jasie is married with one son and is also a worship pastor at her church, Victory Church.  She loves her family and her friends and thrives on seeing the growth that her students make as they begin to enjoy their success in reading  and writing. 

Lori Roberts, Certified Teacher, English, ESL, Special Education

Lori has been an educator for 10 years in Gregg, Wood, and Van Zandt counties. She graduated from the University of Texas at Tyler in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies. Lori currently holds certifications in Early Childhood-6th Generalist, ESL, Special Ed., and 7-12th English. She is married with 2 children and enjoys camping, reading great books, and spending time with her family. Her favorite thing about teaching is building relationships with her students and helping them grow.

Diana Zambrano, Spanish Teacher, Kindergarten to Adult

Diana has been teaching Spanish in dual language programs to children, teenagers, and adults for over 10 years. She loves guiding her students using individualized instruction to help them excel. Diana graduated from University in Chihuahua, Mexico with a bachelor's degree in Educational Intervention with an emphasis on inclusive education. She loves sharing her Latin culture and Spanish language with her students. She has one girl dog whose name is Kim. She has been married for 6 years and enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.