John Beattie earned his doctorate from the University of Florida in 1981. Following a period during which he taught in the Alachua County (FL) public schools, he joined the faculty at the University of Missouri- St. Louis in 1982. The following year a position became available at the University of North Carolina Charlotte and he began his tenure at UNCC at that time. He has been at UNCC since 1983. He teaches classes, conducts research, speaks at local, state, national, and international professional conferences, provides in-service training, and consults with schools in the areas of learning disabilities, ADHD, inclusion, math, and study skills. He has served as a Field Editor for Exceptional Children, and is currently serving a similar role for Teacher Education and Special Education.

LuAnn Jordan earned her doctorate from the University of Florida in 1995, working as a research coordinator until moving to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1997 as the Faculty Coordinator of the Distance Education Master's Program in Special Education. While at UNC Charlotte, she has served in various teaching, research, and service capacities, including Co-Director of a personnel preparation program in Inclusion. As Associate Professor in the UNC Charlotte Special Education Program, Dr. Jordan teaches courses in learning disabilities, teaching written expression to students with learning problems, and teaching strategies for teachers of students with high incidence disabilities. She received training in the University of Kansas Strategic Instruction Model (SIM) in 1993. As a result she is a certified trainer of the University of Kansas Learning Strategies, and has trained over 100 preservice and inservice teachers in KU Strategies, which target middle and high school learners. Dr. Jordan has developed a number of on-line courses, including courses in Inclusion and Attention Deficit Disorder that are delivered primarily via the Internet. As a special education teacher, she worked with elementary students with learning disabilities, mild mental disabilities, and behavioral disabilities.

Bob Algozzine is a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of North Carolina and project codirector of the U.S. Department of Education-supported Behavior and Reading Improvement Center. With 25 years of research experience and extensive firsthand knowledge of teaching students classified as seriously emotionally disturbed, Algozzine is a uniquely qualified staff developer, conference speaker, and teacher of behavior management and effective teaching courses. He is active in special education practice as a partner and collaborator with professionals in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools in North Carolina and as an editor of several journals focused on special education. Algozzine has written more than 250 manuscripts on special education topics, including many books and textbooks on how to manage emotional and social behavior problems.

Lawrence Steel is a special services teacher at Centennial High School in Ellicott City, Maryland. Prior to becoming a teacher in 1993, he worked as a computer system operator for a United States Senator in Washington D.C.

Shortly after becoming a teacher, he began to realize that there was a great need and demand for productivity software in the field of education. Several of Mr. Steel's computer programs are in the area of special education, and are designed to help streamline paperwork tasks. Mr. Steel is the author ofTeacherEvaluationWorks Pro, Student Discipline Data Tracker, and IEP Pro all of which are designed to increase school administrators' productivity and streamline necessary paperwork. Mr. Steel is also the author of the evaluation software that accompanies Writing Meaningful Evaluations for Non-Instructional Staff--Right Now!! and Writing Meaningful Teacher Evaluations - Right Now!!, Second Edition.

Mr. Steel, an avid traveler and bicyclist, currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland, with his wife Kristin and twin daughters Sydney and Samantha.