Dr. Charles M. Achilles is currently a part-time professor of Educational Administration at Seton Hall University and Eastern Michigan University. He was a professor at Eastern Michigan University from 1994-2001 and at the University of North Carolina Greensboro from 1988-1994, where he served as Department Chair. From 1967-1988, he was professor of Educational Administration at the College of Education at University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Charles has a bachelor's degree in Classics, masters in Education, and a doctorate in Educational Administration all from the University of Rochester.

Joseph A. Aguerrebere is President and CEO of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards® (NBPTS) in Arlington, Virginia.  NBPTS is an independent, nonprofit organization that advances the quality of teaching and learning by establishing rigorous standards for what accomplished teachers should know and be able to do.  It provides a national voluntary system certifying teachers who meet these standards.

U.S. Senator Daniel Kahikina Akaka is America’s first senator of Native Hawaiian ancestry, and the only Chinese American member of the United States Senate. Upon graduation from high school, he served as a civilian worker then in active duty in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1943 to 1947. Following World War II, Senator Akaka enrolled in the University of Hawaii, earning a Bachelor of Education degree (1952) and a Master of Education degree (1966). A strong believer in the power of education, he made it his career as a teacher and principal in the State of Hawaii Department of Education.

Donna Alvermann is a University of Georgia-appointed Distinguished Research Professor of Language and Literacy Education. Formerly a classroom teacher in Austin, TX, and New York, her research focuses on adolescent literacy instruction and youth-initiated forms of engagement with all kinds of texts both in and out of school.

Ana Díaz-Booz is the principal of the School of International Business (SIB) at the Kearny High Educational Complex in San Diego, California. Together with her instructional leadership team, teachers, and students, Ms. Díaz-Booz has helped SIB earn distinction in the areas of Title I achievement and “Fast-Track” junior college dual enrollment while posting a bronze medal in U.S. News and World Report’s annual list of America’s top high schools.

Michelle N. Armstrong is the education program manager for MetLife Foundation. The education program supports initiatives that develop the leadership skills of principals, teachers and students; promotes access and opportunity to learning; creates connections between schools and communities; and fosters supportive relationships between educators and students.

Rosa Aronson is the director for advocacy and strategic alliances at the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

Robert Balfanz is a research scientist at the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University and associate director of the Talent Development Middle and High School Project, which is currently working with more than fifty high-poverty secondary schools to develop, implement, and evaluate comprehensive whole-school reforms. His work focuses on translating research findings into effective reforms for high-poverty secondary schools.

Ilene Berman is the program director in the education division of the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA). She provides policy advice, research, and technical assistance to governors and their advisors on issues including improving low performing schools, high school redesign, school choice, and literacy.

Barnett Berry is founder and president of the Center for Teaching Quality, based in Hillsborough, NC. The Center seeks to improve student learning by shaping policies through developing teacher leadership, building coalitions, and conducting practical research. Berry's career, which began as an underprepared, inner-city high school teacher in 1978, has focused on a wide range of efforts to close America’s student achievement gap by closing the teaching quality gap.