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	Samuel Casey Carter is the author of No Excuses: Lessons from 21 High-Performing, High-Poverty Schools, a book on the effective practices of high-performing schools that refuse to make poverty an excuse for academic failure. He is the co-founder of New Academy Ventures, LLC, an educational research and consulting firm dedicated to assisting and accelerating the growth of high-performance alternative K-12 schools. Formerly a Bradley Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a public policy research institute in Washington, DC, Carter is a recognized authority on choice and competition in education. In addition to No Excuses, Carter has edited three other books including Core Virtues, a literature-based character education program for parents and teachers of elementary school students. His most recent news articles, essays, and columns have appeared in: The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, New York Post, Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, Investors Business Daily, National Review, and Policy Review.

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	Dr. Augusta Souza Kappner has served as President of Bank Street College of Education since June 1995. Bank Street is widely recognized for its programs in teacher education, early childhood education, education leadership training, and its progressive school for children. In addition, the College actively pursues its mission to improve the quality of public education by working with students, parents, teachers, and administrators in more than 400 schools in New York City and fourteen other cities. Dr. Kappner is the first woman and the first African-American to preside at the College. Prior to her appointment at Bank Street, Dr. Kappner served as the Assistant Secretary for Vocational and Adult Education for the United States Department of Education. At the Department, Dr. Kappner was responsible for leading and managing the Departments vocational, literacy, and adult education programs. Before her tenure in Washington, she served as Acting President of the City College of the City of New York (CUNY). From 1986 to 1992, Dr. Kappner was President of the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC), the largest of the CUNY system's seven community colleges. Under her leadership, BMCC expanded its number of academic programs, improved student retention, and strengthened its ties to the private sector and the public school system. Dr. Kappner holds the distinction of being the first African-American woman to serve as a president in the City University system.

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	Suellen Fried founded the pilot chapter of the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse in Kansas. She is the co-author of Bullies and Victims: Helping Your Child Through the Schoolyard Battlefield (M. Evans and Company, 1996)