William Ayers is Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), and founder of both the Small Schools Workshop and the Center for Youth and Society. A graduate of the University of Michigan, the Bank Street College of Education, and Teachers College, Columbia University, he writes about social justice, democracy and education, the cultural contexts of schooling, and teaching as an essentially intellectual, ethical, and political enterprise.  His articles have appeared in numerous journals including the Harvard Educational Review and the Journal of Teacher Education, and he has written or edited fifteen books including A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court; To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher; Fugitive Days: A Memoir; Teaching Toward Freedom: Moral Commitment and Ethical Action in the Classroom; and Race Course: Against White Supremacy (in press). He blogs on billayers.org.  Ayers has taught in the Graduate Student Seminars and served on several Division B committees of the AERA including chairing the Lifetime Achievement Award Committee. 

Bridget Baker has just received a master’s degree from Western Washington University, class of 2008.  She is a new doctoral student in the Political Science Department at the Rockefeller College of Public Policy & Affairs.  Her fields of study are American and comparative politics and public policy.  Bridget Baker specializes in education and health care policy. She is specifically interested in communicable diseases, and gender and racial/ethnic disparities in health care and education.  Bridget Baker is currently working on a study of HIV/AIDS policy and treatment in the U.S. and Canada. 

Andrew R. Beutel is a graduate of Montclair State University’s Masters of Arts in Teaching Social Studies Program. He is currently teaching social studies to middle school students at Ramapo Ridge Middle School in Mahwah, NJ.

Aaron H. Caplan is an associate professor of law at Loyola Law School Los Angeles, where he teaches classes in constitutional law and freedom of speech.  Before joining the faculty at Loyola, he was a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington.  He has previously published articles about the law of public school discipline for students' internet speech and the law governing the ability of student clubs to meet on public school campuses. 

Sam Chaltain is the founding director of the Five Freedoms Project, a national organization that provides local educators with the leadership development, coaching and support they need to address two of our country's most pressing challenges -- improving the performance of our public schools, and strengthening the quality of our civic discourse. He is the author of several books, including the forthcoming Degrees of Freedom: A 21st Century Framework for School Leadership (Cafe Press, 2008), and We Must Not Be Afraid to Be Free: First Amendment Law Narratives (Oxford University Press, 2009). He can be reached at schaltain@gmail.com.

Margaret Smith Crocco is Professor and Coordinator of the Program in Social Studies at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she will become Chair of the Department of Arts and Humanities, the largest department at Teachers College in fall 2008.  She received her bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Georgetown University and her master’s and doctoral degrees in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania. Before coming to Teachers College, she taught American History, Women’s History, and American Studies at the college level. She also spent eight years teaching and administering at a high school in New Jersey.  Her research focuses on issues of diversity, teacher preparation in urban settings, and the history of social studies. She has authored or edited eight books, including, most recently, Clio in the Classroom: A Guide to Teaching Women's History, which will be published in early 2009 by Oxford University Press.  In 2007, Crocco and a team of curriculum writers from Teachers College, Columbia University, received a large grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to produce and distribute thirty thousand copies of a curriculum designed to accompany Spike Lee’s When the Levees Broke. This award-winning curriculum is supported by a website, www.teachingthelevees.org, featuring an array of professional development materials. The curriculum was created in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation, HBO Documentary Films, EdLab (the digital technology unit of the Gottesman Libraries at Teachers College), and Teachers College Press. The curriculum has been widely heralded for its balanced, inquiry-oriented, content-rich approach to the controversies surrounding Hurricane Katrina and the breach of the levees in New Orleans.  

Walter Feinberg is the Charles D. Hardie Emeritus Professor of philosophy of education at the University of Illinois in Urbana, and presently a Spencer Foundation Faculty Fellow. Professor Feinberg was a Keynote speaker at the British Philosophy of Education Society Oxford in March, 2004, and delivered the Butts lecture at AESA in 2005 and the Dewey Lecture at AERA in 2006. Feinberg has also served as the Benton Scholar at the University of Chicago and is presently a Spencer Foundation Resident Faculty Fellow. He has held a Major Projects Research Grant from The Spencer Foundation. He is also co-Founder of the Stanford/Illinois Training Institute, a project sponsored by the Spencer Foundation that provides three-week summer training for graduate students planning to teach philosophy of education.  He is the author of a number of books and articles addressing the relationship between education and democracy, including Common Schools/Uncommon Identities, Yale University Press, and is co-editor with Kevin McDonough of Citizenship Education in Liberal Democratic Societies, Oxford University Press, 2002. His latest book, For Goodness Sake: Religious Schools and Education for Democratic Citizenry, is published by Routledge. Feinberg has served as president of the North American Philosophy of Education Association and the American Educational Studies Association and is co-founder of Fudan University’s Institute of Philosophy of Education.  His current work examines the teaching of religion in public schools.

Rebecca A. Goldstein is Associate Professor of Teaching and Curriculum at Montclair State University. Her research interests include teaching and learning in urban contexts and the impact of federal education policies on local practices. She may be reached at Goldsteinr@mail.montclair.edu.

John I. Goodlad is an award-winning scholar and president of the Institute for Educational Inquiry and a founder of the Center for Educational Renewal at the University of Washington.  He has authored over thirty books on education, including the highly acclaimed A Place Called School (McGraw-Hill, 1984), Teachers for Our Nation's Schools (Jossey-Bass, 1990), and In Praise of Education (Teachers College Press, 1997).  Schools in his League of Democratic Schools are featured in this issue. 

Henry A. Giroux holds the Global TV Network Chair in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University in Canada.  His most recent books include: America on the Edge(2006);  Beyond the Spectacle of Terrorism (2006); Stormy Weather: Katrina and the Politics of Disposability (2006); The University in Chains: Confronting the Military-Industrial-Academic Complex (2007); and Against the Terror of Neoliberalism: Politics Beyond the Age of Greed (2008). 

Carl A. Grant is Hoefs-Bascom Professor of Teacher Education at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.   His recent publications include History of Multicultural Education: Conceptual Frameworks and Curricular Issues  (2008; co-edited with Thandeka K. Chapman), a six-volume set that documents, analyzes, and critiques the history of multicultural education in the U. S; and Doing Multicultural Education for Achievement and Equity (2007; with Christine E. Sleeter).   He has served as President of the National Association for Multicultural Education (1993-1999), Editor of the Review of Educational Research (1996-1999),  and chair of AERA’s Publication Committee. 

Maureen Grolnick is an education editor, curriculum writer and adjunct professor at the New School. She received her bachelor's degree in history from Rice University and her Master of Arts in Teaching Degree from Wesleyan. She has done graduate work at Teachers College.  She has worked at Teachers College for the last six years, most recently as managing director of the Teaching The Levees  project. Prior to coming to Teachers College, she was Education Program Officer at the American Council of Learned Societies and Education Editor at The New Press. She was a public high school social studies teacher and principal for twenty-five years and taught Methods of Teaching Social Studies in the Wesleyan University MAT Program. Her most recent editorial project is Forever After: New York City Teachers and 9/11 (Teachers College Press, 2006). 

Vale Hartley teaches intermediate-level students at  the Whatcom Day Academy in Bellingham, WA.   Her first career was as a non-profit accountant in the field of mental health.  She has since volunteered with international students in Mississippi and with refugees in Georgia, and she has taught in Indonesia and Malaysia.  These experiences have all contributed to her unique perspective about diversity and democracy.  Today she focuses on helping students learn to see themselves as active, productive and responsible citizens in their classrooms, well equipped for their future role as adults in our complex democratic society.

Paula Johnson, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Elementary Education Department at Western Washington University. She currently teaches courses in educational psychology to pre-service teachers and, in the past, has taught courses in educational technology.  Her areas of special interest and research are effective teaching, leadership in online environments, and global citizenship.   

Richard Kahn is an Assistant Professor of Educational Foundations & Research at the University of North Dakota. He is the co-author or editor of four books of educational theory, and is presently under contract with Syracuse University Press to publish an edited collection, Greening the Academy: Environmental Studies in the Liberal Arts, in 2009. A critical theorist of education, his work (often with Douglas Kellner) has regularly appeared in major collections and journals on globalization, cultural studies, new media and critical pedagogy. He is the current Editor-in-Chief of Green Theory & Praxis: The Journal of Ecopedagogy and Co-Director of Ecopedagogy Association International. Further information about him, including many of his articles, can be obtained at his website: http://richardkahn.org. 

Lorraine Kasprisin, Ph.D., is Professor of Philosophy of Education and Educational Foundations at the Woodring College of Education at Western Washington University. She is the former director of the Center for Educational Pluralism at Woodring and editor of the Journal of Educational Controversy. She has presented papers at national and international conferences including the conferences in Belgium and Norway for the International Network of Philosophers of Education, and at Oxford University at the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain conference. Her articles have appeared in Studies in Philosophy and Education, Philosophy of Education, the Journal of Aesthetic Education, the Multicultural Education Journal, Prospero: A Journal of New Thinking in Philosophy of Education, and Teachers College Record. A social activist as well as a scholar and teacher, she has been active in the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington as chapter president and state board member, the Whatcom Human Rights Task Force and the Board of Directors of the Washington State Association for Multicultural Education. She was awarded the Excellence in Teaching award by Western Washington University in 1991. 

Philip Kovacs, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Education at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, where he teaches both undergraduate- and graduate- level courses. He is also co-founder and Chair of the Educator Roundtable, a project dedicated to replacing No Child Left Behind with legislation more suitable to life, liberty, and happiness. In addition to his work with the Educator Roundtable, Dr. Kovacs works with the National Education Task Force (NET) and the New Education Organization (NEO), two non-profit organizations working towards democratic education from opposite directions. His research focuses on neoconservative and neoliberal educational reconstruction, democracy and education, and teacher preparation. He can be reached at philip.kovacs@uah.edu. 

Bill Lyne is professor of English at Western Washington University and president of the United Faculty of Western Washington.  He teaches Cultural Studies and African American Studies and has published essays in such journals as PMLA, African American Review, and Arizona Quarterly.  He is also the editor, with Vernon Johnson, of Walkin’ the Talk: An Anthology of African American Studies  (Prentice Hall, 2002) 

Christopher G. Robbins is Assistant Professor of Social Foundations at Eastern Michigan University. His areas of research interest are social and educational policy, racism and racial inequality, and the processes of criminalization and militarization. Most recently, he is the editor of The Giroux Reader (Paradigm, 2006) and the author of Expelling Hope: The Assault on Youth and the Militarization of Schooling (SUNY Press, in press).

Nathan M. Roberts, J.D., Ph.D., is the Director of Graduate Studies in Education and the Mr. & Mrs. E.P. “Pat” Nalley/BORSF Professor in Education at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.  He is a former school board attorney who teaches masters and doctoral courses in school law and organizing the learning environment, and researches legal issues that affect educational leaders.  He serves as the chair of the educational leadership redesign for the college and is the coordinator for the new joint Ed. D. program offered by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Southeastern Louisiana University.  He is a Louisiana Due Process Hearing Officer for Special Education cases and a frequent presenter at the national Education Law Association conference, the Louisiana Athletic Directors meeting, and the Louisiana SuperConference on Exceptional Children.  

Brett Rubio is an Assistant Professor at the University of Washington.  He is a graduate of the University of Southern California, Gonzaga Law School, and a current graduate student at Western Washington University.  His area of study is Constitutional Law with a focus on Civil Rights and Liberties.  He is also the author of  “Eviscerating the Legacy of Brown in PICS v. Seattle,” an article that appears in the Rejoinder Section of the Journal of Educational Controversy for Volume 2, Number 1, winter 2007. 

Claudia W. Ruitenberg, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor in Philosophy of Education in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She has presented papers at national and international conferences, including those of the Philosophy of Education Society, the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain, and the Canadian Philosophy of Education Society. Her work has been published in the Philosophy of Education yearbooks, the Journal of Philosophy of Education, Educational Philosophy and Theory, and Paideusis. Her writing examines speech act theory, performativity and questions of censorship in education, "place-based education" discourses, critique and critical thinking, and--increasingly--radical democratic theory. She teaches courses in educational theory, methods of conceptual inquiry, and critical thinking. 

Carl Anders Säfström is Professor and Dean of Education at Mälardalen University, Sweden. He is author of Skillnadens pedagogik. Nya vägar i den pedagogiska teorin [A Pedagogy of Difference. New Trends in Educational Theory], (Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2005), and publishes regularly on educational theory in international journals. 

Antony Smith teaches at the University of Washington, Bothell. His research interests include professional development, instructional coaching, and literacy assessment, including fluency, retelling, and comprehension measures. He currently serves as Northwest Regional Coordinator for the League of Democratic Schools, an organization connected to the Institute for Educational Inquiry in Seattle.  

Lynda Stone is Professor, Philosophy of Education, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition to current administrative duties at her university, she is delighted to begin service in the presidency of the John Dewey Society. Her interests center on relationships of social theory and educational reform. She has published widely both nationally and internationally for twenty-five years.

Dianne Suiter, Ph.D., is principal of Central Academy Nongraded School in Middletown, Ohio. Throughout her career, she has studied and worked with public and private progressive schools in many states. She has taught and supervised high school special education classes, designed and directed a democratized K-12 gifted education model, directed and helped found a progressive religious elementary school, and supervised K-12 curriculum and instruction in several districts. She has also taught at McGregor School of Antioch University, Antioch University, and Miami University of Ohio. Her research has focused on women in leadership and school reform. 

Sharon Todd is Professor of Education at Stockholm University and Mälardalen University. She is author of Learning from the Other: Levinas, Psychoanalysis and Ethical Possibilities in Education (SUNY Press, 2003) and of Toward an Imperfect Education: Facing Humanity, Rethinking Cosmopolitanism (Paradigm Press, forthcoming). 

Patricia White is Research Fellow in Philosophy of Education at the Institute of Education, University of London. Her publications include Beyond Domination: An Essay in the Political Philosophy of Education (Routledge, 1983);  Personal and Social Education: Philosophical Perspectives (editor; Kogan Page, 1989); Civic Virtues and Public Schooling: Educating Citizens for a Democratic Society (Teachers College Press, 1996); and a four-volume international collection of work in philosophy of education, Philosophy of Education: Themes in the Analytic Tradition, (Routledge, 1998; co-edited with Paul Hirst).  She has written many papers on ethical and political aspects of philosophy of education.  She has given papers and classes at universities in Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland and Taiwan.  She is a former Chair of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain and currently an Honorary Vice-President of the Society and a member of the editorial board of the Society’s journal, The Journal of Philosophy of Education.  

M. Allison Witt is a Ph.D. candidate in Educational Policy Studies with a concentration in Global Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Prior to pursuing a Ph.D., Witt was a senior international education administrator at Eastern Illinois University, where she was charged with international student recruitment, study abroad, exchange agreements, and implementing the SEVIS system.  Her keen interest in the globalization of higher education was piqued through three years as a visiting assistant professor at Senzoku Gakuin University in Kawasaki, Japan, and two years as a visiting assistant professor at Southern Illinois University, Niigata, Japan.     

Melody Wong has taught at international schools in Hong Kong for the past ten years and recently moved to United World College Costa Rica to teach IB English and Theory of Knowledge. The mission of the international United World Colleges movement is to "make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future."   A graduate student at the University of Victoria in Canada, Melody is currently completing her thesis on the impact of student-teacher relationships on teacher identity. You can contact her at: quillanpenvy@yahoo.com.