Kelly Butler

Kelly Butler is Director of Program Strategy for the Barksdale Reading Institute in Jackson, Mississippi. The Institute's mission is to improve significantly the reading achievement of Kindergarten through third grade students in low performing public schools throughout Mississippi.

Ms. Butler holds a bachelor's degree in Special Education from the University of Alabama and a master's degree in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Following graduate school she taught at the secondary level in the Greenwich (CT) Public Schools and later served as Special Assistant to the Region IV Secretary of Health Education and Welfare in Atlanta. She has worked extensively with a variety of non-profit organizations in social service, health care, and education in the areas of program development, support, and evaluation.

Prior to joining the Barksdale Reading Institute, she served as National Executive Director of Parents for Public Schools. Ms. Butler lives in Jackson with her husband, Thorne.

Karen Mapp

Karen L. Mapp is a lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her research and practice expertise is in the areas of educational leadership and educational partnerships among schools, families, and community members. Previously, Dr. Mapp served as interim deputy superintendent of Family and Community Engagement for the Boston Public Schools.

Mapp also served as president of the Institute for Responsive Education, a research, policy, and advocacy organization that conducts research on and advocates for effective school, family, and community partnerships that support the educational development of children in Boston. She holds a doctorate and master's of education from Harvard in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy; a master's in Counselor Education from Southern Connecticut State University; and a bachelor's degree in psychology from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

She is the author of "Making the Connection between Families and Schools," published by the Harvard Education Letter (1997) and "Having Their Say: Parents Describe How and Why They Are Engaged in Their Children's Learning" in the School Community Journal (2002). She also coauthored with Anne Henderson A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement (2002).

David Matthews

David Matthews is president and chief executive officer of the Kettering Foundation. Mathews was elected to the Kettering Foundation board of trustees in 1972, and in 1981, he became its president and CEO. Prior to his work with the Kettering Foundation, Mathews served as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare in the Ford administration.

From 1965 to 1980, Mathews taught history at the University of Alabama, where he also served as president from 1969 to 1980, an era of significant change and innovation, including the integration of the institution. At age 33, Mathews was the youngest president of a major university. Mathews received his A.B. degree in history and classical Greek, graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Alabama, and later received his Ph.D. in history from Columbia University. Mathews grew up in Grove Hill, Alabama, where he has deep roots. He maintains a family home there and is active in the Clarke County Historical Society and other civic projects.

Mathews serves on the board of a variety of organizations, including the Gerald R. Ford Foundation, National Issues Forums Institute, Council on Public Policy Education, and Public Agenda. He has written extensively on such subjects as education, political theory, southern history, public policy, and international problem solving. His books include Why Public Schools? Whose Public Schools? (NewSouth Books, 2003); For Communities to Work (Kettering Foundation, 2002); Politics for People: Finding a Responsible Public Voice (University of Illinois Press, 1999); and Is There a Public for Public Schools? (1996). His most recent book, Reclaiming Public Education by Reclaiming Our Democracy (Kettering Foundation Press, 2006), focuses on the relationship between the public and public education. Mathews is an avid gardener. He is happily married to his childhood sweetheart, Mary Chapman Mathews. They have two daughters and six grandchildren.

Kent McGuire

C. Kent McGuire is the dean of the College of Education at Temple University, where he also serves as professor in the Educational Administration Program. He also served as director of the Center for Research in Human Development and Education, a university-based research organization focused on the study and demonstration of effective strategies for educating poor and minority children.

Prior to joining Temple University, Dr. McGuire was senior vice president at MDRC (formerly Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation), where his responsibilities included leadership of the education, children, and youth division. From 1998 to 2001, Dr. McGuire served in the Clinton administration as assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, where he was the senior officer for the department's research and development agency. As the education program officer for the Philadelphia-based PEW Charitable Trusts from 1995 to 1998, he managed PEW's K–12 grants portfolio. Dr. McGuire has served as education program director for the Eli Lilly Endowment, as an assistant professor at the University of Colorado, and as senior policy analyst and director of the School Finance Collaborative for the Education Commission of the States.

Dr. McGuire received his doctorate in public administration from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1991, his master's degree in education administration and policy from Columbia University Teacher's College in 1979, and his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Michigan in 1977.

Deborah Meier

Deborah Meier spent 40 years working as a teacher and principal in urban public schools. She is currently senior scholar at NYU's Steinhardt School of Education, as well as board member and director of New Ventures at Mission Hill, a K-8 Boston Public Pilot school serving 180 children in the Roxbury community, director and advisor to Forum for Democracy and Education, and on the board of The Coalition of Essential Schools.

A learning theorist, she encourages new approaches that enhance democracy and equity in public education. Meier is on the editorial board of Dissent magazine, The Nation and the Harvard Education Letter. She is a board member of the Association of Union Democracy, Educators for Social Responsibility, the Panasonic Foundation, and a founding member of the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards, the North Dakota Study Group on Evaluation and the Forum for Democracy and Education, among others.

Ms. Meier attended Antioch College and received an MA in History from the University of Chicago. She has received honorary degrees from Bank Street College of Education, Brown, Bard, Clark, Teachers College of Columbia University, Dartmouth, Harvard, Hebrew Union College, Hofstra, The New School, Lesley College, SUNY Albany, UMASS Lowell, and Yale. She was a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in 1987.

Ms. Meier is the author of The Power of Their Ideas, Lessons to America from a Small School in Harlem, Will Standards Save Public Education, In Schools We Trust, Keeping School (with Ted and Nancy Sizer), Many Children Left Behind, and other books and articles that enhance democracy and equity in public education.

Hayes Mizell

Hayes Mizell is the first Distinguished Senior Fellow of the National Staff Development Council (NSDC). The NSDC is the largest national education organization focused solely on increasing the performance levels of public school educators and their students through professional development.

Hayes Mizell directed the Program for Student Achievement of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation from 1987 to 2003. Before joining the Clark Foundation, Mizell worked for more than 20 years as an advocate for better public schools in the South, both as a grassroots organizer and a proponent of education policy reform on behalf of disadvantaged students. A former twice-elected school board member in Columbia, SC, Mizell was appointed in 1979 by President Carter as chairman of the National Advisory Council on the Education of Disadvantaged Children and he served in that capacity until 1982.

Mizell played leading roles in founding the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform, Grantmakers for Education, and the National Coalition of Advocates for Students. Since 2003, Mizell has written articles, columns, and blogs for various publications of the National Staff Development Council.

Dick Molpus

Dick Molpus is President of The Molpus Woodlands Group, a timberland investment management organization headquartered in Jackson, Mississippi. He served as Mississippi Secretary of State from 1984 to 1996. He is a Philadelphia, MS, native and a graduate of the University of Mississippi.

Dick and his wife, Sally, were the founders of Parents for Public Schools (PPS). He is a former President of National Parents for Public Schools. In 2004, he received from the National Education Association the H. Council Trenholm Memorial Award for his work on behalf of public education.

In 2005, Molpus was inducted into the Mississippi Business Hall of Fame, and in 2008 he was honored as a Champion of Justice by the Mississippi Center of Justice. He currently is a member of the Board of Directors of the Wilson Research Foundation, the fund-raising arm of the Methodist Rehabilitation Center in Jackson. He was co-chairman of the highly successful 2006 Jackson Public School bond campaign that brought $150 million for renovations and new schools in Jackson.

In 2007, he became the founding chairman of the United States Endowment for Forestry and Communities, a $200 million endowment funded by the U.S./Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement. The endowment is focused on improving forest health and assisting timber-reliant communities in the U.S. In 2009 he completed his term as chairman, but remains on the Board of Directors. Molpus is also a founding board member of the National Alliance of Forest Landowners (NAFO), which is dedicated to protecting and enhancing the economic and environmental values of privately owned forests through targeted policy advocacy at the national level.

Aurelio M. Montemayor

Aurelio M. Montemayor is senior education associate and professional development team leader for IDRA (Intercultural Development Research Association) in Texas. He has extensive experience in working with school personnel, parents, and students. His career in education spans four decades and has included teaching at the high school, middle school, and elementary school levels.

Montemayor has served as director of the Texas IDRA PIRC (Parent Information and Resource Center) since 1999. He previously directed IDRA’s Educators x Communities = English Language learners’ Success (ExCELS) project, an innovative professional development program that created learning communities of schools, families and communities for English language learners’ academic success. He directed IDRA’s work in the national Mobilization for Equity project and led the formation of Families United For Education: Getting Organized (FUEGO) [Familias unidas para la educación: ganando organizadas] – a Texas network of parents and community members from different backgrounds who work together to achieve the best possible education for all students.

Montemayor also helped facilitate formation of the Coalition for Equity and Excellence in Public Education – a San Antonio-based coalition of community organizations and individuals who support the use of public money for neighborhood public schools and who oppose any effort to divert public tax funds to subsidize private education. Another major effort he led was the formation of the Parent Coalition for Bilingual Education through which parents across the country are supporting bilingual education and developing their leadership skills.

Montemayor received a bachelor’s degree in English and philosophy from St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas, and a master’s degree in bilingual education from Antioch Graduate School of Education in Ohio.

Pedro Noguera

Pedro Antonio Noguera is a professor in the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University. He is also the Executive Director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education and the co-Director of the Institute for the study of Globalization and Education in Metropolitan Settings. An urban sociologist, Dr. Noguera’s scholarship and research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions in the urban environment. Between 2000 and 2003, Noguera served as the Judith K. Dimon Professor of Communities and Schools at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. From 1990 to 2000, he was a Professor in Social and Cultural Studies at the Graduate School of Education and the Director of the Institute for the Study of Social Change at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Noguera has published on topics such as urban school reform, conditions to promote student achievement, youth violence, the impact of school choice and vouchers on urban public schools, and race and ethnic relations in American society. He has been a classroom teacher, has served on numerous advisory boards to youth organizations, and held an elected seat on a city school board where he also served as president of the board. He has also advised school districts on closing the achievement gap and worked with charter school start-ups in inner city neighborhoods.

Dr. Noguera served on the ASCD Task Force on the Education of the Whole Child and serves on the board of the Alliance for Excellent Education. His well-received books include Unfinished Business: Closing the Racial Achievement Gap in Our Schools and the recently released The Trouble With Black Boys: And Other Reflections on Race, Equity, and the Future of Public Education.

Dr. Noguera received his bachelors’ degree in Sociology and History and a teaching credential from Brown University in 1981. He earned his masters’ degree in Sociology from Brown in 1982 and received his doctorate in Sociology from UC-Berkeley in 1989. Dr. Noguera was a classroom teacher in public schools in Providence, RI, and Oakland, CA.

Lyndon Olson

Lyndon L. Olson, Jr., was nominated by President Clinton on October 6, 1997, to be Ambassador to Sweden and sworn in to the office on January 12, 1998. Ambassador Olson previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Travelers Insurance Holdings, Inc., and the Associated Madison Companies, Inc. in New York City. He has served as the President of the National Group Corporation, and has also been President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Group Insurance Company. In addition, he is a cattle rancher and banker.

Ambassador Olson served as a member of the Texas State House of Representatives from 1973 until 1978. A few of the awards he has received include: Distinguished Alumni Award from Baylor University in 1999, Distinguished Alumni Award/Waco Public Schools 1998 and Gates of Jerusalem Award presented by the State of Israel.

Ambassador Olson has served as chair of the following organizations: the Mental Health Association of Texas, the Texas Taxpayers and Research Assn., the Texas Lyceum Assn., the Waco Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Fire & Casualty Companies of Texas, Texas Opera Theater, the Texas Arts Alliance; and has served on the Executive Committee of the Houston Grand Opera and the Austin Lyric Opera, the Waco Symphony, the Austin Symphony and the Waco Art Center. He has been President of the Baylor University Alumni Assn., Honorary Co-chairman of the Fulbright Commission, and has served on the Board of Visitors of the Yale Music School and the Baylor University School of Music. He has also served on the Board of Visitors of the Baylor University School of Business, and is a member of The Council on Foreign Relations and The Philosophical Society of Texas. He serves on the Board of Trustees, Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, Dallas, Texas.

Ambassador Olson also served on the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Institute for Social and Economic Policy in the Middle East, International Board of Advisors. He is a graduate of Baylor University and attended Baylor Law School. He is an Elder in the Central Presbyterian Church of Waco, Texas.

Angela Valenzuela

Dr. Angela Valenzuela is an Associate Vice President of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin as well as Director for the Texas Center for Education Policy and the National Latino Education Research and Policy (NLERAP) project. A Stanford University graduate, Dr. Valenzuela is also a professor both within the Department of Curriculum & Instruction and the Department of Educational Administration. She is the author of Subtractive Schooling: U.S. Mexican Youth and the Politics of Caring (State University of New York Press, 1999) and Leaving Children Behind: How “Texas-style” Accountability Fails Latino Youth (State University of New York Press, 2004).

Dr. Valenzuela’s work centers on the public schooling experiences and outcomes for poor, minority, and English language learning youth, and how policies and practices impact these youth and their families. As the director of the Texas Center for Education Policy, Dr. Valenzuela further ensures that student-centered research that promotes equity is made accessible to key legislators so that policies take minority students' needs into account. During the 2009 81st Texas state Legislature, Dr. Valenzuela’s research on the harms of testing prompted a monumental shift in the way that third grade children are assessed. No longer will promotion to the fourth grade for these children be solely based on test performance. Rather, a holistic assessment based on grades, attendance, classroom performance, teacher and parent assessments, and test performance will be considered.