Linda Darling-Hammond is currently Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University where she co-directs the School Redesign Network and is co-faculty sponsor of the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute. Her research, teaching, and policy work focus on issues of school restructuring, teacher education, and educational equity. From 1994 to 2001, she served as executive director of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, a blue-ribbon panel whose 1996 report, What Matters Most: Teaching for America’s Future, led to sweeping policy changes affecting teaching and schooling. In 2006, this report was named one of the most influential affecting U.S. education and Darling-Hammond was named one of the nation’s ten most influential people affecting educational policy over the last decade. Dr. Darling-Hammond is author or editor of 13 books and more than 250 journal articles, book chapters, and monographs on issues of policy and practice.

Jim Burke teaches English at Burlingame High School. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including The English Teacher’s Companion, 50 Essential Lessons for Teaching English Language Arts, Writing Reminders, Tools for Thought, and Reading Reminders, all of which are published by Heinemann. He is also the author of The Reader’s Handbook (Great Source) and Academic Workout (First Choice Publishing). He has received numerous awards, including the NCTE Intellectual Freedom Award, the NCTE Conference on English Leadership Award, and the California Reading Association Hall of Fame Award. He served on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Committee on Adolescence and Young Adulthood English Language Arts Standards.
 

Alan Lawrence Sitomer is California’s 2007 Teacher of the Year. In addition to being an inner-city high school English teacher and professor in the Graduate School of Education at Loyola Marymount University, Mr. Sitomer is a nationally renowned speaker specializing in engaging reluctant readers. He received the 2004 award for Classroom Excellence from the Southern California Teachers of English and the 2003 Teacher of the Year honor from California Literacy. In April 2007 Alan was named Educator of the Year by Loyola Marymount University and in February 2008 Alan was named Innovative Educator of the Year by the Insight Education Group.

Mr. Sitomer has also authored four young adult novels published by Disney which include The Hoopster, Hip-hop High School, Homeboyz and The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez. Homeboyz was named by the American Library Association as a Top Ten Book of the Year 2008, receiving the prestigious ALA Quick Pick Recognition for a young adult novel which best engages reluctant readers.