Linda Whitesitt is an arts educator, researcher, published author and performer.  Whitesitt joined RealVisions in 2003 as director of evaluation projects.  In the past three years, she has directed the evaluation of arts education projects and professional development programs that include an evaluation of the implementation of Fine Arts Strategic Plans in Maryland’s twenty-four (24) school systems and evaluations of the impact of a number of professional development programs for Maryland classroom teachers and arts specialists: the Maryland Artist/Teacher Institute, Teaching East and West, Crossing Borders/Breaking Boundaries, and Common Threads.  She is currently leading the evaluation of the Arts Integration in Model Schools Program (Montgomery County, MD), a project supported by a U.S. Department of Education Arts Education Model Development and Dissemination Grant.

Whitesitt brings twenty-five years of teaching experience in K-12 and post-secondary education to her work in evaluating arts integration programs and teacher training institutes.  She has served as a member of a National Endowment for the Arts’ grant review panel and an evaluator for Young Audiences, Inc;  helped form South Carolina’s Curriculum Leadership Institute in the Arts; developed and coordinated string training programs in Miami Beach, FL; taught as an artist-in-residence in West Palm Beach; led undergraduate and graduate classes at Queens University (Charlotte), Winthrop College (Rock Hill, SC) and Radford University (VA); served as a middle school and high school orchestra director (Charlotte); performed in orchestras and chamber ensembles in Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida; and founded community arts organizations and arts celebrations in Charlotte, Rock Hill, and Berkeley Springs, WV.  She holds degrees in music performance (B.M.), music history and literature (M.M.), and musicology from Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland at College Park (Ph.D.).