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Rick Gordon has a PhD. in Social and Multicultural Foundations of Education from the University of Colorado-Boulder, a MEd. from University of Minnesota in Political Science with a Focus on Organizational Theory and Public Policy and graduated from Stanford University with honors in Political Science. He was Founding Director of Compass School, a grade 7-12 school that has scored highest on a national survey on Respect, Safety, and School Climate.

Carol Thomas is currently an Area Superintendent for Pinellas County Schools. To address the needs of the nation’s 22nd largest school, the district utilizes area superintendents to lead, support and develop the work of schools. Of the 37 diverse elementary schools that Thomas oversees, 27 made the NCLB’s “adequate yearly progress” standard in 2009. For the past three years the work of her region has been focused on a systematic approach to developing powerful instructional leaders.

Sylvia Boynton is a “professor in residence” in the University of Florida’s College of Education. In this role through the UF Lastinger Center for Learning, she works with teachers and administrators in a district-based, school improvement initiative in Pinellas County (St. Petersburg and Clearwater), Florida. She works intensively in 19 Title 1 elementary schools with a total of 75 educators who are earning graduate degrees in the Teacher Leadership for School Improvement (TLSI) program at UF.

Olivia Gutierrez Bolaños is the Coordinator of Curriculum and Instruction in the Santa Maria-Bonita School District where one of her responsibilities is overseeing the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) Program. She taught bilingual education for 11 years and was a principal for 12 years. Olivia comes from a family very similar to the students she has worked with.

Gina M. Estrada Danley has been a teacher of gifted and talented students since 1997. She taught junior high English for 11 years and has served as district GATE resource teacher in the Santa Maria-Bonita School District for 4 years.

Kate Kennedy develops and leads professional development workshops for educators on how to use value-added analysis, formative assessment, and other research-based strategies and tools for school improvement. A Director at Battelle for Kids in Columbus, Ohio, she also develops online learning resources to support educators’ efforts to apply these strategies to accelerate student progress.

Dr. Mary Peters has conducted extensive research in the area of value-added analysis. In her role as Battelle for Kids’ Senior Director of Value-Added Research Services, Mary was responsible for managing a $6M grant with the Ohio Department of Education pertaining to the delivery and training of value-added analysis to school personnel across Ohio.

With more than 30 years of education experience, Dr. Mike Thomas is one of the foremost experts on the implementation of value-added analysis for school improvement in the United States. Most recently, Mike has provided value-added training to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the Houston Independent School District (TX), the Fort Worth Independent School District (TX), and numerous districts throughout New York and Ohio.

Laura Hedin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Special and Early Education at Northern Illinois University. She teaches instructional methods courses including reading methods in both the graduate and undergraduate special education certification programs. Her research interests include reading in the content areas for intermediate and secondary students with disabilities as well as teacher preparation and co-teaching.

Dr. Michael W. Corrigan is a well-published Associate Professor and Director of Research at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. He teaches Educational Psychology, Human Development, and Research Methods. Dr. Corrigan’s more recent large scale research projects include five U.S.

Dr. Doug Grove is well respected from coast to coast for providing outcome and process evaluation services to local and state education agencies. Grove is an Associate Professor at Vanguard University of Southern California where he serves as Director of Graduate Programs in the School of Education. Grove has an extensive background in Educational Leadership, Research Design and Methodology. Dr.

David Cooper Moore is a filmmaker and media literacy educator based in Philadelphia. He is currently the Program Director of Powerful Voices for Kids, a university-school partnership model from the Media Education Lab at the University of Rhode Island and a board member of the National Association for Media Literacy Education. His work involves designing professional development and enrichment opportunities in media literacy education for K-12 schools.