Elizabeth A. City has served as a teacher, principal, and instructional coach, primarily in North Carolina and Massachusetts. In addition to enjoying countless student-centered discussions in her own classroom, as a National Paideia Faculty member, she has worked with teachers and students across the country as they have learned to facilitate and participate in text-based conversations.
Mary E. (Mikie) Loughridge, Ed. D. is currently serving as a secondary Principal Coach for the Los Angeles County Office of Education and the Southern California Comprehensive Assistance Center’s Office of the Regional System of District and School Support (RSDSS). She served as a special education teacher at the middle and high school levels, as a continuation high school teacher, and as a high school vice principal and principal.
Loren Tarantino has a unique history of employment and training in education. Loren is currently the principal of a private high school in San Diego, California. Prior to this assignment she spent twenty-nine years in public schools working as a secondary school classroom teacher, middle school administrator, and district office administrator in student support services, curriculum and instruction, and human resources.
Samantha S. Burg is a doctoral student in Educational Psychology, Measurement, and Evaluation at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She holds a BS degree in engineering from the University of Oklahoma and an MA degree in mathematics education from the University of Georgia. Prior to beginning her doctoral program, she worked in the field of petroleum engineering in Alaska, served as a youth minister in Scotland, and taught high school mathematics in Georgia.
Vicki Husby is a curriculum specialist and instructional coach with Walton County Schools in Georgia. She is a former daycare teacher, public school teacher, assistant principal and assistant professor of "Supervision of Instruction" at the University of Georgia. She received her Ed.D. at the University of Georgia in educational leadership after studying teachers’ experiences with self-directed staff development.
Dennis Sparks has been executive director of the 10,000-member National Staff Development Council since 1984. He previously was an independent educational consultant and director of the Northwest Staff Development Center. Sparks has been a teacher, counselor, and co-director of an alternative high school. He completed his doctorate in counseling at the University of Michigan in 1976, and has taught at several universities.
Joan Taylor is a teacher-consultant who works with teachers and students in Title I schools in the Reno/Sparks area of Northern Nevada. She recently completed a dissertation on A History of Written Composition Instruction in U.S.