Dr. Ann Lieberman is an emeritus professor from Teachers College, Columbia University. She is now a Senior Scholar at The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and a Visiting Professor at Stanford University. She received her BA and Ed.D at UCLA. She got her Masters Degree at California State University at Northridge, where she also received an honorary degree.

Dr. Lieberman was also the President of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) in 1992. She is widely known for her work in the areas of teacher leadership and development, collaborative research, networks and school-university partnerships, and increasingly, on the problems and prospects for understanding educational change. Her latest books include: Teachers - Transforming Their World and Their Work and Teachers Caught in the Action: The Work of Professional Development with Lynne Miller and a book with Diane Wood entitled: Inside the National Writing Project: Network Learning and Classroom Teaching, a new synthesis to be published by the Teachers College Press.

Her many books and articles have been used by schools and universities alike. She has helped to bring research to the field and helped to popularize the perspective that learning from the field is another way to build important conceptions and knowledge about teaching and learning.

In addition, she is one of a few academics who has worked with both the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) in their efforts to expand their work to address "professional" issues of teaching and learning. With the AFT, she was on the first Advisory Board of the Educational Research and dissemination (ER & D) initiative where teachers began to use research to strengthen their classroom teaching. She is currently on an Advisory Board of the NEA.

She is on numerous national and international advisory boards as she brings multi- perspectives - that of a teacher, researcher, reformer and writer. As a researcher she is currently working on deepening the field’s understanding of different structures that support school reform including, most recently, networks partnerships and coalitions.

Her unique contribution has been that she has been able to go between school and university - embracing the dualities that plague our field - theory/practice; process/content; intellectual/social-emotional learning; policy/practice - helping to build a more comprehensive understanding of teachers and schools and what it will take to involve them in deepening their work. To do this she has fashioned a way to be both a scholar and an activist, a practitioner and a theoretician.

Laurie Robinson is the outreach specialist for the continuing education department at the University of North Dakota. She formerly served as district curriculum coordinator of Grand Forks Public Schools in North Dakota. The leadership she provided in this position is the culmination of more than 30 successful years as a student-focused educator. As a member of the state advisory board for the North Dakota Curriculum Initiative, she authors and edits district and state curricula and assessments. An advocate for the Professional Learning Communities at Work™ school improvement model and sound assessment practices, Laurie is a seasoned presenter who has shared her knowledge with educators at local, state, and national levels.

For the past four years, Laurie has trained teacher leaders from all 19 Grand Forks schools in an effort to develop an effective, district-wide network of PLCs. Additional accomplishments include the implementation of differentiated continuing education modules for area teachers, and the creation of user-friendly curriculum tools for parents and students. Most recently, she has used the structure of PLC to train principals and teacher leaders on the basic tenets of sound assessment practices, based on the work of Rick Stiggins.

Laurie’s career has taken her inside the classroom as an elementary and middle school teacher and K–9 reading specialist. She has chaired the district professional development committee and worked collaboratively with the North Dakota Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development to create quality learning opportunities for more than 1,500 teachers employed in 24 school districts. In addition, Laurie has facilitated numerous collegial book studies and taught continuing education sessions on Kagan cooperative learning strategies, Understanding by Design, guided reading strategies, strategic reading instruction, and Six Traits of Writing.

An in-demand speaker, Laurie’s focus on audience needs and expectations shows in each presentation. She has facilitated schools nationwide to become more effective in quality collaboration and accurate, dependable assessment practices.

Laurie earned an education degree from Mayville State University in North Dakota, where she graduated with honors. She also earned a Master of Education in reading education from the University of North Dakota. In 2002, she received a Fulbright Teacher Scholarship for an exchange program with Japan. An active community member, Laurie serves on the board of The Grand Forks Foundation for Education, Inc., which annually grants thousands of dollars to need-based programs.

 

Dennis Sparks has been executive director of the 10,000-member National Staff Development Council since 1984. He previously was an independent educational consultant and director of the Northwest Staff Development Center. Sparks has been a teacher, counselor, and co-director of an alternative high school. He completed his doctorate in counseling at the University of Michigan in 1976, and has taught at several universities. He speaks frequently throughout North America on topics such as powerful staff development and effective teaching.

Sparks has authored Designing Powerful Professional Development for Teachers and Principals (NSDC, 2002) and Conversations that Matter (NSDC, 2001), a collection of his JSD interviews since 1991. He is co-author with Stephanie Hirsh of Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn (NSDC, 2000) and A New Vision for Staff Development (ASCD/NSDC, 1997). He also co-authored, with Joan Richardson, What is Staff Development Anyway? (NSDC, 1998).

Paula A. Cordeiro, Ed.D. has been Dean of the School of Leadership and Education Sciences at the University of San Diego since 1998. Previously Dr. Cordeiro was the Coordinator of the masters and doctoral programs in Educational Leadership at The University of Connecticut. Cordeiro is a former teacher, principal and school head in international schools in Venezuela and Spain. She is a past president of the University Council of Educational Administration (UCEA), and in 1998 was awarded a fellowship by the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management (FCCEAM). Dr. Cordeiro has published three books and recently finished the fourth edition of her co-authored text: An Introduction to Educational Leadership: A Bridge from Theory to Practice. Paula's research is in the areas of school leadership, cross-cultural leadership and international education. Under Dean Cordeiro's leadership, the Educational Leadership Development Academy (ELDA), that prepares and provides professional development for school administrators, was created. She is past President of the San Diego Council on Literacy, a founding member of the Academy of International School Heads, a board member of the International Council for the Education of Teachers (ICET) and a board member of the Francis Parker School and Keiller Leadership Academy a charter middle school in Southeast San Diego. In February 2006 Dr. Cordeiro was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and in 2007 she was appointed to the board of the James Irvine Foundation in San Francisco.