Diane Ravitch is a historian of education. She is Research Professor of Education at New York University. She has written ten books and edited another 14. She is a graduate of the Houston public schools, Wellesley College (BA), Columbia University (Ph.D. in history of American education), and holds nine honorary doctorates. In 2011, she received the Daniel Patrick Moynihan award from the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences for her careful use of data and research to advance the common good. She blogs at dianeravitch.net.
She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Robin Hiller is the Executive Director of Voices for Education, an organization she founded in 1998 in response to her son’s enrollment in an over-crowded kindergarten class in their neighborhood school. Her goal was to create a way to educate and empower parents to be a part of the decision-making process about education issues at the local and legislative levels.
Prior to establishing Voices for Education, Robin worked for over 20 political candidates and elected officials primarily developing policies that supported children, youth and families. She is also the co-founder of “ChessPlays,” a program that provided chess instruction to at-risk middle school students.
Anthony Cody worked in the high poverty schools of Oakland, California, for 24 years, 18 of them as a middle school science teacher. He writes the widely read Living in Dialogue blog, and was one of the organizers of the Save Our Schools March in Washington, DC, in 2011.
A graduate of UC Berkeley and San Jose State University, he now lives in Mendocino County, California.
Leonie Haimson is Executive Director of Class Size Matters, a non-profit advocacy group working for smaller class sizes in NYC and the nation as a whole. She is also a co-founder of Parents Across America, a national grassroots group that supports progressive and proven education reforms.
She is a graduate of Harvard University, worked at the Educational Priorities Panel, and founded Class Size Matters in 2000. She regularly speaks before parent, advocacy, and government groups, and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox News and on national radio shows.
She writes for several blogs, including NYC Public School Parents and Huffington Post, and her articles and opinion pieces have been published in Education Week, the New York Times, the New York Daily News, InsideSchools, In These Times, the Washington Post’s Answer Sheet, Gothamschools, Gotham Gazette and elsewhere. In 2007 she received the John Dewey award from the United Federation of Teachers; in 2009 she was named as one of NYC’s family heroes by NYC Family Magazine; and in 2013 she was honored as an “Extraordinary Advocate for Our Children” by Advocates for Justice.
Julian Vasquez Heilig is an award-winning researcher and teacher. He is currently an Associate Professor of Educational Policy and Planning and African and African Diaspora Studies (by courtesy) at the University of Texas at Austin. His primary work considers the student achievement and progress in relation to accountability policies.
His work has been cited by the New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, Education Week, and other print and electronic media outlets. He has also appeared on local and national radio and TV including PBS, NBCLatino, NPR, and MSNBC.
He obtained his Ph.D. in Education Administration and Policy Analysis and a Masters in Sociology from Stanford University. He also holds a Masters of Higher Education and a Bachelor’s of History and Psychology from the University of Michigan.
He blogs at Cloaking Inequity.
Larry Lee is retired and lives in Montgomery, AL. His last position before retiring was Director of the Center for Rural Alabama where he coordinated an extensive study of high-performing, high-poverty rural schools. The result was the publication, Lessons Learned from Rural Schools. He frequently writes about education issues for Alabama newspapers.
He is co-author of Beyond the Interstate: The Crisis in Rural Alabama and Crossroads and Connections: Strategies for Rural Alabama.
He is chairman of the advisory board of HIPPY Alabama, an early childhood learning program. Lee is a graduate of Auburn University.
Renee Moore is an English Instructor at Mississippi Delta Community College. She was 2001 Mississippi Teacher of the Year and is a National Board Certified Teacher. She serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS), and is also a member Teacher Leaders Network (TLN). She is co-author of Teaching 2030 (2011) and her education blog is TeachMoore.