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Janet Hale is an educational consultant and trainer who is passionate about supporting educators in making curriculum decisions that ensure, enhance, and enrich learning and teaching experiences.

LeAnn Nickelsen, M.Ed. is a former teacher and currently provides staff development nationally on topics including brain research, reading and vocabulary strategies, how food affects learning, and differentiated instruction. She was a classroom teacher in three states and won a Teacher of the Year Award in Texas. LeAnn is known as “the teacher’s teacher” because of her practical, research-based examples that teachers can easily implement in their classrooms.

Sarah F. Mahurt is the director of the Purdue Literacy Collaborative and associate professor of literacy and language at Purdue. Through her leadership, the Purdue Literacy Collaborative has trained more than 80 literacy coordinators to be literacy leaders and coaches in their schools. This project has reached more than 800 teachers who are improving their teaching of literacy and student achievement in literacy.

Ruth Metcalfe has been a literacy coordinator and teacher for Goshen Community Schools in Goshen, Indiana. She has a masters degree in elementary education and she completed a year-long course to become a literacy coordinator. During her 16 years as an educator, she has taught first, second, and fourth grades and provided professional development and coaching at the building level.

Margaret Ann Gwyther is a national literacy consultant and coach. She facilitates adult learning through ongoing professional development and coaching.

Jie-Qi Chen, Ph.D., holds the Barbara T. Bowman Professorship in Early Education at Erikson Institute. Beginning as a teacher in various classroom settings, from toddlers to middle school, she has devoted three decades to teacher professional development. Dr. Chen founded the Early Math Collaborative at Erikson, a groundbreaking initiative that revitalized early mathematics education and empowered teachers to emphasize foundational math concepts.

Gillian Dowley McNamee, Ph.D, is professor emeritus of child development and early childhood teacher education at Erikson Institute, Chicago, IL. She has worked with early childhood teacher candidates during their preparation for public school teaching as well as long term with teachers working with children growing up in challenging social and economic situations.

Joellen Killion champions educator learning as the primary pathway to student success. She serves school systems, schools, regional, state, and national agencies within the U.S. and abroad as a consultant and learning facilitator. She is senior advisor to Learning Forward and formerly was its deputy executive director.

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Barbara Levin has been a Professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Higher Education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) since 1993. She was an elementary school teacher for 17 years before earning her Ph.D. at the University of California-Berkeley. Dr. Levin served as the Director of the Teachers Academy at UNCG, assistant department chair, and director of graduate studies.

Valerie von Frank has written extensively about education over several decades as a daily newspaper reporter in multiple states covering public schools and, over the last decade, for NSDC publications, including JSD, Tools for Schools, The Learning System, The Learning Principal, and T3.

Dr. Yvonne Freeman and Dr. David Freeman are professors emeriti at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Both are interested in effective education for emergent bilinguals. They present regularly at international, national, and state conferences. They have worked extensively in schools in the U.S.