Martha and her family immigrated to Dallas from Mexico when she was eight years old. What Martha wants for her students is the same thing that her parents wanted for her and her brothers—a life filled with the opportunities and options that only a quality education can bring. As principal of Marsh Middle School, Martha worked with her team to create and sustain a foundation of trust and fulfill the mission and purpose for the campus, including a strong college-going culture. As a result, student performance has improved with Marsh Middle School’s rating moving from Improvement Required (not meeting state standards) to Met Standard in one year.

Born and raised in Chicago, IL, Tequila Butler has spent the last 7 years as a servant leader in schools across the DFW metroplex. In 2016, Tequila was awarded Teacher of the Year for her work in closing the achievement gap for students in Northeast Dallas. Tequila received her M.Ed in Urban Education at Southern Methodist University and a B.A. from Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University. In her spare time, Tequila enjoys giving back to the community through her sorority and local alumni chapter.

Being in love with reading and education her whole life, Tiffanie Goudy joined Dallas Independent School District as a 7^th grade Language Arts and Reading teacher, after years in community education and training with local nonprofits. Passionate about transformational work, she has worked in some of the most challenging schools in the district, and she continues that work currently as a Reading Instructional Lead Coach.

Nya Rivers grew up in the Dallas area and settled on teaching after several career changes. She decided that being an influence to our next generation of creators was important to her and teaching was the number one way to make that passion a reality.

Patrice Ruffin-Brown is a passionate and dedicated educator, who has over twelve years in both teaching and leading in the Dallas Independent School District. She has experience in working with campus and central leadership in school improvement. Patrice is currently completing her Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and hopes to continue working with minority students to improve literacy in disenfranchised communities.

Tracie R. Washington, Principal of the Year Award recipient by the 12^th largest urban school district in the nation is an innovative, forward thinking educator with a track record of success in turning around under-performing schools. In her current role as Executive Director with Dallas Independent School District, she is called to meet the needs of at-risks students by creating an artistically stimulating, intellectually challenging, purpose driven environment that fosters the development of global competitive leaders.

Rosa E. (Rosita) Apodaca is the executive director of the Institute for Learning (IFL) at the University of Pittsburgh. She served as a senior fellow at the IFL since 2002. Before joining the IFL, Apodaca held several cabinet-level posts in urban school districts where she designed, developed, and led award-winning efforts that raised the achievement of English learners in three large urban school districts. Apodaca received local, state, and national recognition for her work in the education of the most vulnerable students.

Her combined expertise developed as a senior district leader and as an IFL fellow positions the IFL to fulfill its significant contributions to schools while growing its national and international presence.

Apodaca’s life’s work has been to provide high-quality education to every student, particularly those traditionally under-served. Apodaca holds a master’s degree and a doctorate in Educational Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University. She regularly tweets @Mita11Rosita.

Victoria Bill, resident fellow with the Institute for Learning (IFL), is the chair of the IFL mathematics team. She designs professional development in mathematics, curriculum, student performance assessments, and teaching and learning tools. Additionally, she facilitates district professional development.

Bill has created an online coaching model with research findings from a multi-year study on coaching. She is currently working with researchers to design, use, and improve tools that can guide coaches as they work with mathematics teachers to develop instructional practices that support productive discussions in mathematics classrooms.

Bill's most recent publications include Taking Action: Implementing Effective Teaching Practices in K-Grade 5, The 5 Practices in Practice: Successfully Orchestrating Mathematics Discussion in Your Elementary Classroom, and The On-Your Feet Guide to Modifying Mathematical Tasks.

Denise Collier has served public schools and students in Texas and across the nation for over 30 years. Collier served as members of the Council of the Great City School’s standards review committee and of the Department of Education’s No Child Left Behind technical advisory panel. At the state level, Collier led the development of a field guide for the New Visions for Public Education for the Texas Association of School Administrators and provides statewide training and support for TASA’s school transformation initiative.

Dr. Collier is a fellow with the Institute for Learning, supporting college-ready literacy efforts in Dallas public schools. She also serves as an adjunct professor in the doctoral program at Texas State University. Prior to her retirement, Denise served as the Chief Academic Officer and Deputy Superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District. Before joining Dallas ISD, she led curriculum and instruction programs in several other Texas districts, including Austin ISD, both long-term district partners with the IFL.

Dr. Collier received a BA in Education from Angelo State University, a master’s degree in Reading Education from East Texas State University, and a doctorate in Education from the University of Texas at Austin.

Sara DiMartino joined the Institute for Learning (IFL) at the University of Pittsburgh in July of 2011 as a member of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC) assessment prototype team. As a fellow, she works with educators in various school districts on research, curriculum development, and professional development. She is currently part of the Network for School Improvement grant team, collaborating with educators in Dallas ISD to study a problem of practice using improvement science methods.

Sara earned her PhD in Language, Literacy, and Culture at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include writing, peer review, and the use of technology in ELA classrooms. Sara’s most recent publications are “Secondary Students’ Perceptions of Peer Review of Writing,” published in Research in the Teaching of English, and “In Their Own Words” published in The Learning Professional. Sara is a co-author of the revised National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) position statement on the role of English teachers in educating English Language Learners, and the forthcoming NCTE position statement on adolescent literacy.

Joseph Dostilio is an instructional design fellow at the IFL, where he is a member of the mathematics team. He is involved in the writing and graphic design of lesson sets, units, and intervention materials, as well as development of training for mathematics coaches and teachers.

Dostilio started his teaching career in the Pittsburgh area, where he taught various high school courses. He became a curriculum writer for the Pittsburgh Public School District. He then accepted a position as a professional development content specialist for math and science with Pearson. There he designed professional development for middle school and high school teachers, coaches, and administrators, as well as online training modules for various curricula. He also has designed and supervised several afterschool and summer programs in the Pittsburgh area as well as at several universities. In addition, he has designed and taught several courses at The Pennsylvania State University for high school students preparing for college.

Dostilio holds a BA in Sociology from The Pennsylvania State University. He earned his Master of Arts in Secondary Education from Duquesne University.

Allison Escher joined the Institute for Learning (IFL) at the University of Pittsburgh in July of 2011 as a Research Associate to develop assessment prototypes in English language arts (ELA) aligned to the Common Core State Standards for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC). Now, also a fellow and chair of the ELA team, she designs and leads professional and curriculum development for educators in various school districts across the country.

Before Escher began her work at the IFL, she taught high school English and dramatics. Escher has also taught in the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education, where she taught both graduate and undergraduate courses as well as supervised pre-service teachers during their field site placements.

Escher earned her BA in English Literature and her MAT in English Education from the University of Pittsburgh. She also completed her PhD from the University of Pittsburgh in English Education in the spring of 2015, along with a certificate in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies. Her research interests include gender and reading practice, the impact of curriculum materials on practice, and writing instruction.

Kristin Klingensmith, a mathematics fellow at the Institute for Learning (IFL), works directly with teachers, instructional coaching, and building and district leaders. She designs and delivers professional development and writes curriculum materials and performance-based assessments.

Klingensmith led the collaborative development of SOAR Intervention materials. She has collaborated with Paterson Public Schools (NJ) on grants from the Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation, focusing on the development of materials to support conceptual mathematics instruction PreK through Grade 3.

Klingensmith started teaching in the Pittsburgh area. After several years in the classroom, she became Mathematics Coach in Wilkinsburg (PA) and later took on the position as Instructional Coach-Literacy for Propel EAST (PA). Kristin has also worked as a building principal, high school and K-8.

In addition to working in K-12 education, Klingensmith has taught undergraduate courses at community colleges in the Pittsburgh area and graduate classes at the University of Pittsburgh.

Kristin earned her BA in English Literature, with a certificate in Children's Literature, Master of Arts in Teaching, and Reading Specialist Certification from the University of Pittsburgh. Her certifications include Supervision of Curriculum & Instruction, Principal K-12, Reading Specialist K-12, Mid-Level Mathematics, and Elementary K-6.

Lindsay Clare Matsumura received her PhD in Developmental Studies from UCLA in 1998. In addition to serving as a co-director of the IFL, she is the associate dean of Research in the School of Education, a professor of Learning Sciences and Policy, and a research scientist at the LRDC. She has obtained multiple grants from the Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences to fund her research on teacher professional development, education technology, and literacy instruction and learning. Her recent work in these areas includes developing and studying an online literacy coaching system to increase the quality of reading comprehension instruction and learning, and an automated feedback system to improve students’ analytic text-based writing. Matsumura’s work has appeared in several scholarly and practitioner-oriented journals, and she has written a book for teachers based on her research on writing instruction.

Glenn Nolly is a leadership fellow with the Institute for Learning (IFL). Nolly is also an assistant professor in the School of Education at the University of Texas at Austin and a faculty member of the Urban Principal Leadership Academy (Leadership Academy), a joint venture with UT Austin and Dallas ISD to prepare a cohort of Dallas ISD teachers to become urban school leaders. Nolly focuses on social justice leadership and specific strategies to create optimal learning environments for students and teachers.

Advocating rigorous teaching and learning for under-achieving students is Nolly’s lifework. His education career spans 35 years in the Austin ISD. While working there, Nolly received the Darlene Westbrook Leadership and Servant Leadership awards, and he successfully retooled an under-performing high school and built an AP program. His knowledge of developing and supporting school communities transformed a group of high school principals into a functional professional learning community.

Nolly served as associate superintendent, assistant superintendent, and as a principal during his tenure at Austin ISD. He received a Master of Education degree from Texas State University and a PhD in Educational Administration and Supervision at the University of Texas at Austin.

Anthony Petrosky co-directs the Institute for Learning (IFL) with Chris Schunn and Lindsay Clare Matsumura at the Learning Research & Development Center (LRDC). He holds a joint appointment as a professor in the School of Education and the English Department, and was recently the associate dean in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. He has worked with professional learning and curriculum development in English and literacy in public schools across the country. He led the development of assessment prototypes in English language arts and literacy for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Career (PARCC). He currently co-directs The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded IFL Network for School Improvement in partnership with 14 Dallas ISD schools, the Learning Research & Development Center, and the Center for Urban Education.

Cheryl Sandora, Ph.D., has been a research associate at the Learning Research & Development Center for 22 years. During her time at LRDC, Sandora worked closely with Dr. Isabel Beck and Dr. Margaret McKeown conducting classroom-based research on instructional practices targeted toward vocabulary and comprehension.

She began working as an ELA fellow for the IFL in 2014 and spends her time designing curricular materials and facilitating professional development workshops to districts throughout the country. Prior to her work at the University of Pittsburgh and the IFL, Sandora was a professor in the education department at Bethany College in Bethany, WV, where she taught ELA methods courses and was instrumental in designing courses for their newly created graduate school.

Sandora is the coauthor of Robust Comprehension Instruction with Questioning the Author: Fifteen Years Smarter with Isabel Beck and Margaret McKeown (in press).

Laurie Speranzo, a mathematics fellow for the Institute for Learning (IFL), works in districts with elementary and middle school math teachers, math supervisors, and math coaches. She designs and delivers professional development, and she writes curriculum materials.

Speranzo taught elementary and middle school grades for almost 10 years before she became a math coach in the New York City Public Schools, where she coached math and science teachers in pre-kindergarten through grade 12. Subsequently, she took a job with a math education non-profit based at Northeastern University that consulted to schools in the greater Boston area, where she coached math teachers; designed and presented math professional development for administrators, teachers, and after-school program coordinators; and taught graduate and undergraduate math content and methods classes. In recent years, Speranzo has presented at several regional and national conferences on math education.

As a contributor to an Institute of Education Sciences grant on coaching and an MSP grant on connections between math and science, Speranzo has continued to research and design lessons and tools around math coaching and cross-curricular teaching opportunities. She has also served on the editorial committee of NCTM’s Mathematic Teaching in the Middle School journal.