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IRVIN HOWARD
Dr. Irvin Howard has been an educator for more than 30 years with a firm commitment to early adolescent and middle school education. He received his bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in middle grades education from Illinois State University and has served as a middle school language arts/reading teacher, district language arts coordinator, university professor and state accreditation evaluator.

At the present time Dr. Howard is Professor Emeritus at California State University, San Bernardino where he specialized in middle grades/early adolescent education. From 1990 to the present time he has served on the Board of Directors of the California League of Middle Schools and is a past president of that organization while also serving as a Trustee of the National Middle School Association. He has been a consultant for the California State Department of Education Middle Grades Network Office and has recently completed a three-year term as a member of the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing Committee on Accreditation. He has published numerous articles and a book related to middle school education, diversity education and instructional strategies, and he has an international reputation in the field of adolescent education, school safety and bullying behavior. He is regularly called upon to testify before the state legislature on matters related to education, adolescent suicide, hate crimes, diversity education and developing safe schools. He was named the 2000 Professor of the Year in Education at California State University, San Bernardino and was also presented with the 2000 Diversity Award by the institution. Dr. Howard was recently installed into the Illinois State University Alumni Hall of Fame for his commitment and dedication to improving early adolescent education as well as his ongoing work in the area of school and student safety.

Dr. Howard presently serves as the Director of the California Schools to Watch-Taking Center Stage Program as well as a trainer for the National Forum's School to Watch program.

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TONY JACKSON
Anthony Jackson, PhD, is Vice President, Strategic Development and Communications at The Galef Institute. Jackson directs The Galef Institute’s efforts to build partnerships with government agencies, foundations, and corporations to support the on-going development and dissemination of Different Ways of Knowing, Galef’s comprehensive school reform design. He also directs the organization’s communications strategy that uses data from research-based school success to influence changes in education policy. He was formerly a Director of Disney Learning Partnership, a philanthropic initiative of The Walt Disney Company, where he directed all grant making, and a program officer at Carnegie Corporation of New York, where he directed the Middle Grades School State Policy Initiative, a grant program that supported comprehensive middle-grades reform in over two hundred schools in fifteen states and local school districts. With Gayle A. Davis, he is co-author of Turning Points 2000: Educating Adolescents in the 21^st Century, a major work on middle grades education. He has published numerous other works on education reform and intergroup relations.

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DEBORAH KASAK
Dr. Kasak has served as the Executive Director of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform since the fall of 2002. She represents
the Forum and advocates for improved educational outcomes for young
adolescents at many conferences, presentations, and other national
events. Her articles have appeared in many papers and magazines with a national audience, including Education Week and USA Today. Dr. Kasak is the main media contact for the Forum. She is also responsible for fundraising and building relationships with current and future funders. She oversees the work of the Steering Committee and the Forum's working committees, as well as the day-to-day operations of the Forum.

Previously she was the Executive Director for the Association of
Illinois Middle Level Schools. Nationally, AIMS is regarded as one of the most active and innovative middle level associations. The Association
provides professional development services, technical assistance and consulting to schools and teachers across the state. The AIMS Illinois Middle Grades Network (formerly PIML) is operated solely by the Association and assists schools as they learn about, prepare for, implement and improve their middle level programs. Since 1989, the Network in Illinois has grown to include 145 schools in 2003. Dr. Kasak served as the Principal Investigator of the Project from its inception in 1989. AIMS is also one of the first regional centers for the National Turning Points Design Model, a reform model with New American Schools. The organization is actively involved with the middle grades self-study process and collaborates with staff at the Center for Prevention Research and Development at the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign.

Before her work with AIMS, Dr. Kasak was associated with the Champaign Community Schools in Champaign, Illinois serving as a teacher, team member and counselor for many years. In 1989 as President of AIMS, she assisted with the writing of the first Carnegie Middle Grade School State Policy Initiative Grant in Illinois. In 1990-91, she subsequently worked for the Illinois State Board of Education as the Educational Consultant for that Carnegie Policy Planning Grant. In that role, she helped in the development of the state's strategic plan for middle grades education and its publication, Right in the Middle. Dr. Kasak has recently ended her term as President-Elect of the National Middle School Association and served two terms as a National Middle School Association Board of Trustee Member.

Dr. Kasak has received most of her educational preparation at the University of Illinois. She holds a bachelor's degree in speech and drama education, a master's degree in student personnel work, an advanced certificate in educational psychology and a doctoral degree in educational administration.

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JOAN LIPSITZ
Joan S. Lipsitz is Senior Fellow at MDC, Inc., in Chapel Hill, NC, focusing on philanthropy and education. She is an advisor to foundations and nonprofits on school improvement and youth development. Formerly, she served as the program director for elementary and secondary education at Lilly Endowment from 1986 to 1995, where she specialized in youth development research and middle-school reform initiatives. Prior to that, she established and directed the Center for Early Adolescence at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was a faculty member of the Bush Institute for Child and Family Policy, and was a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health. Previously, she was a program associate at the Learning Institute of North Carolina, a member of the College Board's Commission on Precollegiate Guidance and Counseling, a research associate at the National Institute of Education, a member of the governing board of the Annenberg Rural Challenge, a founding director of the North Carolina Child Advocacy Institute (NCCAI), and a founding member of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform. Joan currently serves on the boards of the Hershey Trust Company, the Milton Hershey School, NCCAI, the Executive Service Corps of the Greater Triangle, and DonorsChoose NC. She began her career as a secondary school English teacher. Educational background: Wellesley College, BA; University of Connecticut, MA; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Ph.D.

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DOUGLAS MAC IVER
Douglas Mac Iver is Principal Research Scientist, Center for the Social Organization of Schools at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He is author of over 30 professional publications which focus on middle level education, motivation and achievement in early adolescence and the social structuring of schools. He directs the Johns Hopkins University's Talent Development Middle Schools Program which has been working with three public middle schools in Philadelphia to develop, implement, and refine the Talent Development "blueprint" for reform. The goal of this effort is to establish the curricula, instruction, school organization, and professional development needed to help students placed at risk master a rigorous, standards-based core curriculum in the major academic subjects and to prepare them for successful futures. He is a recipient of the Human Development Research Award given by the American Research Association's Division E and of the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award given by Johns Hopkins University.

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MONICA MARTINEZ
Monica Martinez serves as the project director for the IEL's work with the National Clearinghouse for Comprehensive School Reform (NCCSR). NCCSR is a partnership of The George Washington University, the Council for Basic Education and IEL and is funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement. As director of outreach for NCCSR, Ms. Martinez is responsible for developing partnerships with regional laboratories and educational organizations. She also coordinates and manages the information dissemination activities of NCCSR through national, regional and local conferences. Ms. Martinez has worked in a variety of higher education institutions and for intermediary organizations that provide informal and programmatic assistance in partnership development, school change, research and evaluation. Her work has focused on the educational needs of low-income and minority students across the K-16 educational pipeline. Prior to coming to IEL, she was associate director for the University of Maryland's National Partnership for Excellence and Accountability in Teaching (NPEAT), funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Ms. Martinez was part of a New York University evaluation team that conducted the implementation studies of the Annenberg Challenge Grant in New York City and worked with the Urban Partnerships Program, a K-16 educational partnership initiative implemented in 16 cities in the United States, Puerto Rico and South Africa. From 1991 to 1996, Ms. Martinez was assistant dean of the College at Williams College. Ms. Martinez is currently completing her Ph.D. at New York University. She received her M.A. from New York University and her undergraduate degree from Baylor University.

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KEN McEWIN
Ken McEwin is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Coordinator of Middle Grades Teacher Education at Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina. He is a former sixth grade teacher and school principal, and has extensive experience as a consultant to schools, school districts, state departments of education, higher education institutions, and policy making bodies. Dr. McEwin is author of over 100 professional publications which focus on middle level education. He has served in many leadership positions including being president of National Middle School Association. He is also the recipient of a number of awards for his work in middle grades education including the John H. Lounsbury Distinguished Service Award.

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WILLIAM MILES
Dr. William Miles serves as Director of Policy and Public Engagement at Public Education Network, a national network of local education funds (LEFs). LEFs are community-based organizations that seek to ensure high quality public education for all children through policy change and public engagement. The ninety member LEFs work in over 300 low-income school districts throughout the country. Dr. Miles is responsible for managing all of PEN’s national policy and advocacy efforts and coordinating efforts with member LEFs. Previously Dr. Miles served as Program Associate at PEN for the National Library Power Program, an initiative to enhance teaching and learning through library improvement in over 700 schools in 26 districts.

Before coming to PEN, Bill was an education program officer for a family foundation and a consultant on evaluation and program development to a number of national foundations and other nonprofit organizations. He has also been a middle and high school teacher and administrator. Bill received his B.S. from Georgetown University, a M.Ed. from Harvard University, and an Ed.D. in educational administration from Columbia University, Teachers College.

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HAYES MIZELL
Hayes Mizell is currently the Distinguished Senior Fellow of the National Staff Development Council (www.nsdc.org), a 10,000-member organization dedicated to improving the professional development of public school educators

Between 1987 and 2003, Hayes lived in the metropolitan New York area when he was director of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation's Program for Student Achievement (http://www.emcf.org/programs/student/index.htm). In that capacity he conceived and implemented the Foundation's major initiatives to support middle school reform throughout the United States. He was responsible for recommending and overseeing grants to urban school systems in Corpus Christi, Long Beach, San Diego, Louisville, Minneapolis, Chattanooga, Milwaukee, Oakland, and Baltimore.

Between 1966 and 1982, Hayes Mizell directed the South Carolina office of the American Friends Service Committee (http://www.middleweb.com/mw/resources/HMhistory.html). In 1979 he was appointed by President Carter as Chairman of the National Advisory Council on the Education of Disadvantaged Children, and he served in that capacity until 1982. During 1970-74 and 1982-86, Mr. Mizell served as an elected member of the Richland County School District One (Columbia, SC and environs) Board of Commissioners. In the mid-1980s, he worked with Governor Richard Riley and others in developing recommendations that became the basis for South Carolina's historic Education Improvement Act.

During the course of his career, Hayes Mizell provided leadership in organizing and developing three national organizations:

Grantmakers for Education (www.edfunders.org)
National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform (www.mgforum.org)
National Coalition of Advocates for Students (www.ncasboston.org)

Speeches by Hayes Mizell

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PATRICK MONTESANO
Patrick Montesano works with schools, school districts, foundations, and other organizations across the country on initiatives for children, youth, and families. He has extensive experience in educational reform—and in particular middle-grades educational reform. As co-executive director of School and Community Services, based in AED’s New York office, Mr. Montesano provides leadership and supervision to over a dozen evaluation and technical assistance projects, as well as to the development of new programs.

Currently, Patrick is directing the Middle Start initiative, in progress in Michigan, with the support of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation and the Michigan Department of Education; in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, through a partnership with the Foundation for the Mid South; and in Kansas and Missouri, with the support of a start-up grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. With a team of AED staff and consultants, he directs the Michigan Middle Start Partnership, oversees documentation and evaluation, and coordinates technical assistance for participating schools and other organizations. Patrick also directs AED's Urban Middle-Grades Reform Network, sponsored by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, which is building a national network of district administrators to support middle-grades reform. He has also directed AED's technical assistance for systemic middle-grades reform efforts in New York City and Jackson, Mississippi. He is an active member of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform and an advisor for other educational reform initiatives.

Previously, Patrick directed the Urban Middle-Grades Partnership in collaboration with the Southern Regional Council and eight urban school districts; a middle-grades seminar series for leaders in foundations, intermediary organizations, and educational associations; and the Lilly Endowment’s Middle Grades School Recognition Project. He also directed a variety of other program development, technical assistance, evaluation, and dissemination initiatives related to magnet school/parent choice programs (White Plains, New York Public Schools), professional development for administrators and teachers (Kauffman Foundation), school-based management (National Committee for Citizens in Education), and high school career academies (Edna McConnell Clark Foundation). He also led an evaluation team in rural Mississippi for AED's evaluation of a community and youth development program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor's Youth Opportunities Unlimited/Youth Fair Chance Initiative. Patrick holds a M.A. in curriculum and teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University.

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BARBARA MOORE
Barbara Moore is the Associate Director for Making Middle Grades Work, SREB’s Middle Grades Initiative. She is responsible for co-directing program activities, leading technical assistance visits, writing site reports, developing guides and newsletters, coordinating all professional development opportunities and providing technical assistance to sites.

Prior to joining the MMGW team, Moore directed the Indiana Education Network, a non-profit organization that worked with urban school districts statewide. The Network received grants from Lilly Endowment, the Indiana Department of Education, and the National Science Foundation to fund school improvement initiatives. Her more than 20 years in the field includes pre-school to higher education experience as a teacher, counselor, administrator, and consultant.

During her career, Moore has facilitated many inservice workshops and made numerous presentations at regional, state, and national conferences including the National Middle School Association, the National Staff Development Association, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

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JOHN NORI
As Director for School Leadership Services at the National Association of Secondary School Principals John R. Nori coordinates middle level and high school improvement initiatives. Applying his practitioner's perspective he focuses on the implimentation of the concepts in Breaking Ranks: Changing An American Institution and Turning Points 2000: Educating Adolescents in the 21st Century. In addition he is responsible for the NASSP Resident Practitioner Program that includes principals-in- residence in areas of high need and concern for principals including the areas of: Special Education, Safe and Orderly Schools, Testing and Assessment, Business Partnerships, and Adolescent Literacy and Professional Development. As an active member of NASSP's Speaker's Bureau, Mr. Nori has recently presented "High School in a Changing World: Breaking Ranks Continued" at the Governor's Summit in Lansing, MI and Turning Points 2000: Faculty Study Groups in Middle Schools to middle school administrators in Montgomery County, MD. He is currently a member of the steering committees for the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform and the National Alliance for High Schools.

Mr. Nori began his career in education as an English teacher. He entered administration as an assistant principal in 1987 and became principal of Julius West Middle School in 1992. Later he served as Director of Middle Level Instruction for Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools and retired from his public education career as principal of Colonel Zadok Magruder High School in Rockville, Maryland. His background as a teacher and administrator in both high schools and middle schools has provided him with a view of the maturation and education processes that all students must go through as they move through school. His experience as an instructor has guided his focus on improving instruction at the classroom level. He has also been a faculty associate at Johns Hopkins University where he focused on his lifelong passions-improving classroom instruction and strengthening supervisory skills.

Mr. Nori holds a B.S. in English education from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania and a M.Ed. in Secondary Education from the University of Maryland. He has been married to Brenda for thirty-one years and has two children: Kristin, a special education teacher, and Tim, a college student.

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DAVID PAYTON
David Payton has been Supervisor of the New York State Education Department's Middle-Level Education Program for almost twenty years. In this role, he has assisted in the development of a Policy Statement on Middle-Level Education and Schools with Middle-Level Grades by the New York State Board of Regents, the creation of a Statewide Network of Middle-Level Education Liaisons to support local middle-level initiatives, and the preparation of the Essential Elements of Standards-Focused Middle-Level Schools and Programs by the NYS Education Department. Dr. Payton is also the model developer and model provider of New York State's home-grown Middle-Level Education Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) Model. He has authored numerous articles, publications, and monographs on middle-level education for the State Education Department and the New York State Middle School Association. He is a staunch supporter of middle-level education and an unwavering advocate of young adolescents and all the people involved in their education.

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CLARA SALE-DAVIS
Clara Sale-Davis is the principal of Freeport Intermediate School, one of the Forum's four Schools to Watch. Clara's professional experience began in 1983 in the Brazosport Independent School District in Freeport, Texas. She was an elementary classroom teacher for six years and then became an assistant principal in 1989. The following year, Clara was given her first assignment as principal at O.A. Fleming Elementary until 1995. The Superintendent had such respect and admiration for her leadership capabilities, Clara was given the opportunity of being principal of two schools in the same year—O.A. Fleming Elementary and Freeport Intermediate School. In 1996, Clara became Principal of Freeport Intermediate, where she remains today.

Clara has been recognized for her work with a number of awards and honors. She has served on the panel for the American Institute for Research in Washington, D.C. and presently serves on the Advisory Committee on Education for Senator Buster Brown. She was awarded the Region IV Principal of the Year for 1997-98 and was elected as a State Representative to serve on the Texas Secondary and Middle School for Southern Association of Colleges and Schools from 1998 to the present.

Clara is a member of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and serves on the board of the Texas Association of Secondary School Principals. She also serves on the Principals' Advisory Council for Region IV ESC. Her campus has been chosen as a Texas Mentor Network school, and through this network, she has trained numerous schools throughout the nation and in Sweden, focusing on motivation and improved student performance.

Clara considers her greatest accomplishments to be her two children: Skyla, a precocious first grader, and John Carlton, her adorable 7-month old.

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JEANETTE STERN
Dr. Jeannette Stern is currently the principal of Wantagh Middle School (Wantagh, New York), where she has served for over 35 years. Her middle level expertise was honed first as a teacher of both Spanish and social studies, and later as the supervisor of Wantagh’s social studies department. Prior to being appointed principal, Jeannette was instrumental in her buildings transition from a junior high school to a middle school, serving and chairing a wide range of committees which both researched and implemented the buildings’ metamorphosis into one of America’s Blue Ribbon Middle Schools.

She is President of the New York State Middle School Association where she has been on the Board of Directors since 1985. In addition, she is a member of the New York State Education Department’s Middle-Level Liaisons, the State Education Department’s External Council on Middle-Level Education, and the Steering Committee for the NYS Schools to Watch Program. She also is a member of the New York City Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform.

Jeannette also is an adjunct professor at both Walden University and Hofstra University, where she is looking to the future by teaching courses in middle-level education and educational leadership. A recognized expert in the field of middle-level education, she has written numerous articles for a wide range of state and national publications as well as being a contributor for Reforming Middle Level Educatioon: Considerations for Policymakers, and served as editor of In Transition, the journal of NYSMSA. She has consulted extensively for school districts in New York, New Jersey and Virginia with a focus on establishing a successful middle level program, integrating interdisciplinary instruction and the development of an advisory program.

Jeannette received her BA from SUNY Albany, her MA from Hofstra University, PD from Long Island University and her doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University.

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SUE SWAIM
Sue Swaim is the Executive Director of the National Middle School Association (NMSA). NMSA has over 25,000 members and 57 affiliate organizations throughout the United States and beyond. The association is centered in Columbus, Ohio with a satellite office in Washington, DC. Ms. Swaim is responsible for the overall administration of NMSA. She works with the board and headquarters staff to formulate both short and long term goals and objectives to advance the work of the association in improving the educational experience of young adolescents.

Ms. Swaim grew up and attended public schools in Kansas City, Kansas. She holds a B.S. Ed. Degree in elementary education from Emporia State University, a Master's degree in middle-level curriculum and instruction from the University of Northern Colorado (UNC). She also completed an advanced K-12 administration certification program at UNC.

Ms. Swaim began her teaching career in Topeka, Kansas at Fairveiw Elementary School. After teaching elementary school in Emporia, Kansas and LaSalle, Colorado she accepted a 6th grade middle school teaching position at the University of Northern Colorado Laboratory School in Greeley, Colorado. Ms. Swaim went on to teach 6th, 7th, and 8th grade language arts, social studies, and reading for ten years and serve as a K-12 curriculum coordinator for three years; she then became the elementary and middle school principal at the Laboratory School. She held this position prior to becoming the Executive Director of NMSA in August 1993.

Ms. Swaim has been very active in middle-level education as a teacher, principal, educational consultant, and association officer. She is the past president of the National Middle School Association and the Colorado Association of Middle-Level Education. One of her primary initiatives as NMSA president was to form a middle-level curriculum task force which developed the Association's initial curriculum position paper entitled Middle Level Curriculum: A Work in Progress. She was also one of the primary writers of This We Believe: Developmentally Responsive Middle Level Schools, NMSA's landmark position paper, released in 1995.

During her tenure as Executive Director, Ms. Swaim has been involved in developing and implementing a wide variety of initiatives including NMSA's launch of the Month of the Young Adolescent, a national celebration held in collaboration with 30 other national associations and youth-service organizations. She has also been one of the key developers of four television programs aired each October in collaboration with Court TV, other leading cable television operators, and NBC affiliates. The 1999 show, Opening the Door to Diversity: Voices from the Middle School, was awarded the Beacon Award, the cable industry's highest award for public service programming.

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SUE THOMPSON
Dr. Sue Thompson has been a learner in the field of education for the past thirty years. She has been an interdisciplinary team member, a middle school principal and director of middle level education. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Urban Leadership and Policy Studies Department at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. She is a co-chair of the Great Cities Universities Urban Educator Corps Partnership and a member of the National Forum in Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform. She is chair of The National Middle School Association’s Urban Issues Task Force and President of the Missouri Chapter of the National Association of Multicultural Education. She is currently serving as a member of the Qualitative Research team for the Kauffman Foundation in evaluating the implementation of a large urban district K-12 reform initiative.

When Dr. Thompson served as Director of Middle Level Education for the Blue Valley School District in Overland Park, Kansas from 1987-1996 she was responsible for guiding the district’s implementation plan from junior high schools to middle schools. The middle schools incorporated interdisciplinary teaming, an integrated curriculum model, exploratory classes, advisement, community service learning, and expanded activities programs.

In addition to the above programs, Dr. Thompson was responsible for an extensive staff development program, including the training of site-based councils at all middle schools and facilitated many K-12 district initiatives in the areas of curriculum, instruction and assessment. She was responsible for the design and opening of four new middle schools during her tenure. Dr. Thompson assisted in the implementation of integrated curriculum/thematic learning, authentic assessment, and cross-curricular portfolios in all six middle schools. Dr. Thompson has co-edited Transforming Ourselves, Transforming Schools: Middle School Change (National Middle School Association. She has a chapter in Volume 2 of The Handbook in Middle Level Education. She co-authored a chapter in Dissolving Boundaries: Toward an Integrative Curriculum (National Middle School Association), Teaming in the Middle Schools (National Middle School Association), an article for KAMLE entitled "Cross-Curricular Portfolios: Politics and Possibilities" and an article entitled "Reculturing Middle Schools for Meaningful Change" published in the Sustaining Change theme issue of the Middle School Journal, May, 1997. She published at article entitled "Overcoming Obstacles to Creating Responsive Curriculum" in the Middle School Journal, September, 2000 and an article entitled "The Political Realities of Democratizing Classrooms and Schools" for Democracy in Education, (4)3, 2002.

Dr. Thompson’s research agenda includes middle school reculturing, urban education, leadership, systemic reform and issues related to race/ethnicity, class and gender as they relate to social equity. She has conducted on-site evaluations using both qualitative and quantitative methods to assess the effectiveness of middle level programs and practices and assist the staffs in determining professional development plans. She has conducted workshops for state and national organizations on a variety of middle school topics.

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JERRY VALENTINE
Jerry W. Valentine is a Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Valentine serves as both the Program Coordinator for the department's K-12 Educational Leadership division and as the Director of the Middle Level Leadership Center. He has a B.A. from Louisiana Tech University and a M.Ed. from the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Valentine earned a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1993 and served in the public schools of Louisiana and Colorado as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal prior to his tenure at Missouri.

As the coordinator of the K-12 Leadership programs, Valentine works with ELPA faculty to implement the Masters Degree, the Educational Specialist Degree, and the Superintendent programs of study. These programs of study lead to initial and advanced certification for elementary and secondary principals and the superintendency.

As Director of the Middle Level Leadership Center, Valentine works with graduate research assistants and faculty to develop and disseminate the knowledge of best practices in middle level leadership. The Center is currently contracted with the National Association of Secondary School Principals to conduct a three-year National Study of Leadership in Middle Level Schools. As the leader of these "decade" studies in 1980, 1990, and again in 2000, Valentine and his colleagues have defined the trends and significant issues throughout the past thirty years of middle level education. The books from the studies have become some of the most frequently referenced books in the field of middle level education and middle level leadership. Valentine has authored or co-authored six books, scores of professional articles and several instruments for school improvement and leader development.

Valentine combines his research of best practice with his work in schools, particularly middle level schools. One of the Center's most important programs is Project ASSIST (Achieving Success through School Improvement Site Teams). The two-year school improvement project was designed in 1996 to work with 12-15 schools every two years to help school personnel develop and internalize practices for comprehensive, systemic school improvement essential to the development of an effective learning organization in today's school environment. His most recent presentations and papers as well as research reports and findings from Project ASSIST are available to the educational community and the public through the Center's website at www.mllc.org. Valentine also recently served as the University representative to the National Alliance of Middle Level Schools and as a member of the National Middle School Association's Research Committee.

For his work as a leader in middle level education, Valentine has achieved national and international recognition. He was recently selected to present at the National Confederation of Principals in Sydney and at the European League of Middle Level Education in Budapest. In 1981 Phi Delta Kappa International recognized Valentine as one of the nations Outstanding Young Educational Leaders. In 1995 he received the prestigious William T. Gruhn-Forrest E. Long Award for "distinguished service and leadership in improving middle level education." He is one of but a few educational leaders to receive this highest recognition in middle level leadership since its inception in 1983.

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RON WILLIAMSON
Ron Williamson is Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at Eastern Michigan University. He is the immediate past Executive Director of the National Middle School Association and until 1994 served as a junior high and middle school teacher, assistant principal and principal as well as Executive Director for Curriculum and Instruction in the Ann Arbor (MI) Public Schools. Ron has lived and worked in Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina and Texas.

Ron was a facilitator for a multi-year school improvement project, Principals Make the Difference in Standards-Based Reform, funded by theEdna McConnell Clark Foundation and the National Association of Secondary School Principals. During this project Ron worked with the middle schools in Corpus Christi (TX) and Louisville (KY) to assess their current effectiveness as well as design and implement strategies to strengthen their work with students.

Work with school principals continues through a comprehensive school reform project funded by the US Department of Education and coordinated by the Galef Institute. Ron is coordinating the design of a leadership development component for the Different Ways of Knowing school reform model.

Ron is the author of numerous articles and books of interest to school leaders. Phi Delta Kappan cited two publications Through the Looking Glass: The Future of Middle Level Education and Planning for Success as two of the essential core readings for middle level educators. In addition he has published two books on scheduling to improve student learning. He also authored numerous articles in the NASSP Bulletin, Middle School Journal, Schools in the Middle and School Administrator on school leadership, student achievement, use of data and program planning.

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