About Us
The Co-founders
Leonard P. Kelly, PhD
Leonard P. Kelly holds a PhD in Educational Psychology and Evaluation from The Catholic University of America, and he worked for 30 years at Gallaudet University conducting research related to the reading and writing processes of people with deafness. This combination of training and experience has provided indispensable guidance in scientifically shaping The Wiz Quiz over the years, so that its features provide participants with appropriate cognitive challenge and social engagement. Dr. Kelly is a member of the American Society on Aging.
Jaclyn M. Kelly, EdM
Jaclyn Kelly joined the New York City Labor Market Information Service (NYCLMIS) at the City of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center in the fall of 2017, directing research and evaluation projects focused on labor market-informed employment and career entry and advancement best practices. She was previously the head of impact measurement at Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) and is an Adjunct Faculty member at the City College of New York, CUNY, and Long Island University, Brooklyn. She specializes in research and evaluation studies designed to measure and improve program effectiveness.
Also the founder of J.U.M.P. Evaluation, her proprietary consulting business, Jaclyn has guided many organizational clients in the clarification of program objectives, development of evaluation design, selection and development of measurement instruments, data analysis, and use of results to inform practice. She has collaborated with nonprofits, universities, and private-sector service providers. Jaclyn holds a BS in Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University, an Ed.M. in Measurement and Evaluation from Columbia University, and is a doctoral candidate at The City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center in Political Science.
Beginnings and Evolution of The Wiz Quiz
The Wiz Quiz activity was created in the fall of 1994 by the Kelly father-daughter team as a weekend volunteer activity that would satisfy Jaclyn’s high school community service requirement. It was launched first at what is now Seabury at Springvale Terrace, a residential community for older adults in Silver Spring, Maryland, where today it is still conducted as a volunteer activity. The immediate appeal of The Wiz Quiz to the residents at Springvale prompted the Kellys in early 1995 to contract with Classic Residences by Hyatt in Chevy Chase, Maryland (now Five Star Premier Residences of Chevy Chase.) to conduct The Wiz Quiz at that facility. In 2018, that relationship began its 24rd year.
The first expansion of The Wiz Quiz was the founding of The Wiz Quiz, LLC as a group to train activity hosts and license their use of the bank of authorized questions of The Wiz Quiz, which had been built up and refined over the years. The first trainee was Professor Russell Olson, retired Chair of the History and Government Department at Gallaudet University. He has been conducting The Wiz Quiz since January, 2010 at Maplewood-Park Place, a residence in the Sunrise system in Bethesda, Maryland, and the bi-weekly activity regularly attracts around 50 enthusiastic residents. In the next expansion of its services, The Wiz Quiz, LLC trained the staff members of four residences in the Atria Senior Living system, and licensed their use of authorized questions of The Wiz Quiz. This implementation in the New York metropolitan area was supervised by The Wiz Quiz, LLC, and formally evaluated at the conclusion of an initial six-month pilot. The Wiz Quiz is now preparing to launch a new version of its web site that will allow subscribers to engage in regular cognitive challenge and quench their thirst for trivia by viewing actual sessions of The Wiz Quiz being conducted by Dr. Kelly.