The William H. Payne Collegiate Professor of Education and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the School of Education at University of Michigan Deborah Loewenberg Ball is the William H. Payne Collegiate Professor of Education and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the School of Education at the University of Michigan, and the founding director of TeachingWorks. She taught elementary school for more than 15 years, and continues to teach mathematics to elementary students every summer. Ball serves on the National Science Board and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute Board of Trustees, chairs the Spencer Foundation Board of Directors, and is the president-elect of the American Educational Research Association. She completed eleven years as dean of the U-M School of Education in June 2016. Ball's research focuses on the practice of mathematics instruction and on the improvement of teacher training and development. She is an expert on teacher education, with a particular interest in how professional training and experience combine to equip beginning teachers with the skills and knowledge needed for responsible practice. Ball has authored or co-authored more than 150 publications and has lectured and made numerous major presentations around the world.

Professor in the School of Education at The University of Michigan Nell Duke is a Professor in the School of Education at the University of Michigan. Her work focuses on early literacy development, particularly among children living in poverty. Her specific areas of expertise include development of informational reading and writing in young children, comprehension development and instruction in early schooling, and issues of equity in literacy education. She is the recipient of the P. David Pearson Scholarly Influence Award from the Literacy Research Association and the American Educational Research Association Early Career Award, as well as awards from the National Reading Conference, the National Council of Teachers of English, and the International Reading Association. She has served as co-principal investigator on projects funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the George Lucas Educational Foundation, among other organizations. Duke has served as an advisor for many education and policy organizations. She has also served as author and consultant on a number of educational programs and speaks widely on literacy education. Among her books is Inside information: Developing powerful readers and writers of informational text through project-based instruction and Beyond bedtime stories: A parent’s guide to promoting reading, writing, and other literacy skills from birth to 5, now in its second edition.

Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Education at University of Michigan Liz Kolb is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Education at the University of Michigan. She authored Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education (published by ISTE, 2008), Cell Phones in the Classroom: A Practical Guide for the K-12 Educator (ISTE, 2011), and Unleash the Learning Power of Your Child's Cell Phone (ISTE, 2013). In addition, she has published numerous articles and book chapters on new technologies and education in prominent publications such as Education Leadership, Scholastic, Edutopia, ISTE's Edtekhub, and Learning and Leading with Technology. Kolb has done consulting work and has been a featured and keynote speaker at conferences all over the United States and Canada. She is an elected board member to MACUL, the state of Michigan organization for teaching with technology. She is a member of the COSN advisory board for mobile learning and emerging technologies. She is passionate about engaging students in education and educational opportunity through their own technologies. Kolb is also the creator and coordinator of the 4T Virtual Conference, which is a free conference for practitioners that occurs every May. Kolb is a former social studies and computer technology teacher.

Dean of the School of Education at University of Michigan Elizabeth Birr Moje is the Dean of the School of Education, the George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Education, and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the School of Education at the University of Michigan. She is also a faculty associate in the Institute for Social Research and in the Latino/a Studies program. Moje began her career teaching history, biology, and drama at high schools in Colorado and Michigan. In her current research and community engagement work, Moje uses an array of methods to study and support young people’s literacy learning in Detroit, Michigan. She is particularly interested in the intersections between disciplinary literacies of school and the literacy practices of youth outside of school. She also studies how youth draw from home, community, ethnic, popular, and school cultures to make cultures and to enact identities. In related work focused on teacher learning, Moje developed and co-directs Teaching and Learning the Disciplines through Clinical Practice Rounds, with colleague Robert Bain. The Rounds Project, which advances discipline-based literacy teacher education in urban settings, was awarded the provost’s Teaching Innovation Prize at the University of Michigan in 2010.

Associate Professor of Educational Policy, Leadership, and Innovation in the School of Education at University of Michigan Donald J. Peurach is Associate Professor of Educational Policy, Leadership, and Innovation in the School of Education at the University of Michigan. His research, teaching, and outreach focus on the production, use, and management of knowledge-in-practice among social innovators and those they seek to serve. As such, his work sits squarely at the intersection of educational policy, leadership, and innovation. He is the author of Seeing Complexity in Public Education: Problems, Possibilities, and Success for All (2011, Oxford University Press) and a co-author of Improvement by Design: The Promise of Better Schools (2014, University of Chicago Press). Peurach also serves as a Fellow of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and as a Faculty Associate in the Center for Positive Organizations in the Ross School of Business (University of Michigan). Before pursuing an academic career, he was a high school mathematics teacher and, before that, a systems analyst in manufacturing, healthcare, and higher education. Peurach holds a BA in computer science from Wayne State University, an MPP from the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, and a PhD in Educational Studies from the School of Education at the University of Michigan.

The Keith E. and Valerie J. Alessi Professor of Business Administration at University of Michigan

President at Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Anthony S. Bryk is the ninth president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, where he is leading work on transforming educational research and development, more closely joining researchers and practitioners in networked improvement communities to improve teaching and learning. Formerly, he held the Spencer Chair in Organizational Studies in the School of Education and the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University from 2004 until assuming Carnegie's presidency in September 2008. He is a member of the National Academy of Education and was appointed by President Obama to the National Board for Education Sciences in 2010. He is one of America's most noted educational researchers. His 1993 book, Catholic Schools and the Common Good, is a classic in the sociology of education. His deep interest in bringing scholarship to bear on improving schooling is reflected in his later volumes, Trust in Schools (2002) and Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago (2010). In his most recent work, Learning to Improve (2015), Bryk argues improvement science combined with the power of networks offers the field a new approach to reach ever increasing educational aspirations. Bryk holds a B.S. from Boston College and an Ed.D. from Harvard University.

Senior VP for Programs and Operations at Carnegie Foundation Paul LeMahieu is the senior vice president for programs and operations at the Carnegie Foundation. At Carnegie, he directs all of its programmatic efforts as well as the work of the Center for Networked Improvement (comprised of groups dedicated to collaborative technology, analytics, improvement science, as well as network initiation and development). LeMahieu served as superintendent of education for the state of Hawaii, the only state in the nation that is a unitary school district with annual budgets totaling over $1.8 billion. He was President of the National Association of Test Directors and Vice President of the American Educational Research Association. He served on the National Academy of Sciences' Board on International Comparative Studies in Education, Mathematical Sciences Education Board, the National Board on Testing Policy, and the National Board on Professional Teaching Standards. His current professional interests focus on the adaptation of improvement science tools and methodologies for application in networks in education. He is a co-author of the recent book Learning to improve: How America’s schools can get better at getting better, and lead author of the forthcoming Working to improve: Seven approaches to quality improvement in education. LeMahieu has a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh, a master’s from Harvard University, and a bachelor’s from Yale College.

Senior Fellow, Improvement Science at Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Alicia Grunow is a Senior Fellow, Improvement Science, at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Associate, Improvement Science at Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Amanda Meyer is an Associate, Improvement Science, at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.