Kevin Carey is the Policy Manager at Education Sector, a new education think tank. Prior to working at Education Sector, Carey was director of policy research at Education Trust, where he published numerous policy papers and analyses that have been cited in such media outlets as the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.

Daniel Fallon served as Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences at Binghamton University, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences of the University of Colorado at Denver, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University, and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at the University of Maryland in College Park. In 1986-87 he was President of the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences.

Richard A. Flanary serves as the Director of National Association of Secondary School Principals' Department of Professional Development Services and is responsible for leading the design of professional skills and programs for prospective and practicing principals. He chairs the Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC), a partnership involving the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), the National Association of Elementary School Principals, and NASSP.

Carole Kennedy served as a teacher and principal for thirty-eight years in the public schools of Missouri before her retirement in 2001. In 1999, she was appointed by Secretary of Education Richard Riley to the position of Principal in Residence at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC. Following completion of that two-year term, she joined the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in Arlington, VA, as principal consultant.

Catherine Fisk Natale is currently the Acting Bureau Chief for the Bureau of Educator Assessment and co-director of the Connecticut SAELP Project. She joined the Department in 1987 and has worked primarily on the development, validation and administration of teacher performance assessments and a state-wide teacher induction initiative (the Beginning Educator Support and Training [BEST] Program).

Heather Peske is the former director of teacher quality at The Education Trust, a non-profit research and advocacy organization whose mission is to close achievement gaps that separate low-income students and students of color from other youth. Peske is a former member of the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, as well as an Editorial Board Member of the Harvard Education Review.

Karen Seashore has served as professor of Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota since 1987. Her primary research interests focus on school improvement and school reform, although she teaches and advises in all areas of educational policy and administration. Her main area of expertise includes improvement in K-12 leadership and policy over the last 30 years, particularly in urban secondary schools.