Arthur L. Costa is an emeritus professor of education at California State University, Sacramento, and cofounder of the Institute for Intelligent Behavior in El Dorado Hills, California. He has served as a classroom teacher, a curriculum consultant, an assistant superintendent for instruction, and director of educational programs for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Costa has made presentations and conducted workshops in all 50 states as well as Mexico, Central and South America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Islands of the South Pacific.

Costa has devoted his career to improving education through more "thought-full" instruction and assessment. Author of numerous journal articles, he also edited Developing Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking and is the author of The Enabling Behaviors and The School as a Home for the Mind. He is coauthor (with Larry Lowery) of Techniques for Teaching Thinking and Cognitive Coaching: A Foundation for Renaissance Schools (with Bob Garmston); and coeditor of Assessment in the Learning Organization, Assessment Strategies for Self-Directed Learning, the Habits of Mind series (with Bena Kallick); the trilogy Process as Content (with Rosemarie Liebmann); and Thinking-Based Learning (with Robert Swartz, Bena Kallick, Barry Beyer, and Rebecca Reagan). His works have been translated into Dutch, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, Hebrew, and Arabic.

Active in many professional organizations, Costa served as president of the California Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and was the national president of ASCD from 1988 to 1989. Costa and Kallick have started the Institute for Habits of Mind, providing products and services to schools throughout the world. Costa can be reached at 916-791-7304; e-mail: artcosta@aol.com.

Bena Kallick is a private consultant providing services to school districts, state departments of education, professional organizations, and public agencies throughout the United States and abroad. Kallick received her doctorate in educational evaluation at Union Graduate School. Her areas of focus include group dynamics, creative and critical thinking, and alternative assessment strategies for the classroom. Her written work includes Literature to Think About (a whole language curriculum published with Weston Woods Studios); Changing Schools into Communities for Thinking (published by Technology Pathways); coeditor of Assessment in the Learning Organization, the Habits of Mind series, Strategies for Self-Directed Learning (co-authored with Arthur Costa), Information Technology for Schools (co-authored with James Wilson), Thinking Based Learning (with Robert Swartz, Arthur Costa, Barry Beyer, and Rebecca Reagan) and Using Curriculum Mapping and Assessment to Improve Student Learning (co-authored with Jeff Colosimo). Her works have been translated into Dutch, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, Hebrew, and Arabic.

Formerly a Teachers' Center director, Kallick also created a children's museum based on problem solving and invention. She was the coordinator of a high school alternative designed for at-risk students. She is cofounder of Performance Pathways, a company dedicated to providing easy to use software for curriculum mapping and assessment tracking and reporting, in an integrated suite. Kallick's teaching appointments have included Yale University School of Organization and Management, University of Massachusetts Center for Creative and Critical Thinking, and Union Graduate School. She was formerly on the board of the Apple Foundation, the board of Jobs for the Future, and is presently on the board for Learning Effects and Weston Woods Institute. Kallick and Costa have founded the Institute for Habits of Mind, providing products and services to schools internationally. Kallick can be reached at 12 Crooked Mile Road, Westport, CT 06880 USA; phone/fax: 203-227-7261; e-mail: bkallick@aol.com.

Other Contributors

Jennifer Abrams is a national and international speaker and consultant who trains and coaches educators and other professionals in successful teaching practices, new teacher and employee support, generational savvy, supervision and evaluation, and collaboration skills. She has been a classroom teacher, a coach of new teachers, and a professional developer, and she has served as a consultant to design programs across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Her book, Having Hard Conversations, was scheduled for publication by Corwin Press in 2008. Abrams considers herself a "voice coach," helping professionals tap the power and effectiveness of their own voices—within groups, in front of classrooms, and in coaching or supervisory roles. She holds degrees from Tufts University and Stanford University and can be reached at jennifer@jenniferabrams.com.

James Anderson was a middle school teacher and curriculum coordinator at the Grange P–12 College in Hoppers Crossing, Victoria, Australia, where he was responsible for introducing and implementing a program for teaching thinking and Habits of Mind. Anderson is the founding director and principal consultant of MindfulbyDesign. He developed, launched, and led the first collaborative, generative network of educators dedicated to exploring the Habits of Mind. Since 2005, Anderson has led the growth of this network throughout Australia by supporting hundreds of schools both across Australia and abroad, and has helped to extend our understanding of the Habits of Mind through major events like the International Habits of Mind Expo in 2007 (the first of its kind anywhere in the world). Anderson is a highly experienced and engaging presenter with experience at all levels of schooling from early learning through to tertiary level. He has presented to business audiences and consulted extensively to schools. Anderson is Australia's leading authority on Habits of Mind and the regional director of Costa and Kallick's Institute for Habits of Mind and is endorsed to train and support schools and others in Habits of Mind. He offers consultancy and training services through his company Mindful by Design: www.mindfulbydesign.com.

Sandra Brace has been teaching since 1986. A graduate of UCLA with a degree in performing arts, she has taught at every level of education from kindergarten to college. During her professional teaching career, she has been resident "artist in the schools" for more than a dozen schools in California and Hawaii. She founded and administered a 501(c)3 nonprofit dance collective on the Big Island of Hawaii and taught music in the public elementary schools there. She has served on the faculty at the University of the Pacific Stockton, directed the dance program at the award-winning Hamilton Performing Arts Magnet School in Stockton, and now teaches full-time at the Waikiki School in special education. A writer, composer, and choreographer as well, Brace has had dances, plays, and operas produced in California and Hawaii.

Kristin Edlund is a curriculum specialist in the Tahoma School District in Washington State and author of the middle school Habits of Mind curriculum. She has written social studies units that integrate the Habits of Mind and thinking skills, and she supports teachers in implementing this curriculum in the classroom. Edlund teaches classes in integrated curriculum, thinking skills, and Habits of Mind throughout western Washington and has presented at numerous state and national conferences. She worked as a teacher-librarian for 12 years before entering administration. She can be reached at the Tahoma School District office at kedlund@tahomasd.us.

Margaret Evans Gayle is executive director of the American Association for Gifted Children at Duke University and a noted futurist and author. She is project manager for Bright IDEA 2, a Jacob Javits Research grant awarded to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) by the U.S. Department of Education. She was the associate director of programs in early childhood and languages and chief consultant for media and technology at NCDPI. She is coauthor of Schools of the Future (McGraw-Hill, 1985) and Educational Renaissance (St. Martins' Press, 1991) and is a curriculum developer for schools of the future. She was the project designer and director in NCDPI for the Lincoln School of Technology and the DownEast Instructional Telecommunications Network from 1985 to 1989. Gayle holds a BA in English (magna cum laude) and an MA in education from Western Carolina University. She has been a teacher, a media specialist, and a principal. She has presented more than 2,000 keynote addresses and seminars to business and education leaders about curriculum and education for the future.

Emilie Hard is the principal of Glacier Park Elementary School (GPES), which serves more than 900 students in the Tahoma School District in Maple Valley, Washington. She became principal at GPES in 2000 and is one of the main authors of the elementary curriculum units. She coauthored an integrated curriculum for the district with thinking skills and thinking habits at its core. She supports this curriculum by providing demonstration lessons, teacher inservice training, and instructional coaching through her role as principal. Hard has more than 20 years of elementary teaching experience in Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. She has also served on the Washington State Math Advisory Committee and was a member of the state's Classroom-Based Assessment Committee. She can be reached at the Tahoma School District Office, 23700 SE 280th St., Maple Valley, WA 98038; phone: 425-432-7294; fax: 425-432-6795; e-mail: ehard@tahomasd.us.

Mary "Valorie" P. Hargett was the state consultant for academically or intellectually gifted programs in the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and a former systemwide staff developer, literacy specialist, talent development program specialist, curriculum writer, and education consultant specializing in the most up-to-date theories and practices. As the state consultant for gifted programs she is responsible for (1) program designs, implementation, and reviews; (2) facilitation of rigorous and challenging K–12 curricula; (3) advocacy for underserved populations in K–12 for honors and gifted classes; (4) professional development expertise in best instructional practices that promote student achievement and growth; and (5) licensure policies and development in gifted education. She was the designer for Project Bright IDEA 1 and serves as the co-investigator for Project Bright IDEA 2, a Jacob Javits Gifted Education grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The grant is a five-year study on changing the dispositions of teachers and increasing the cognitive and metacognitive thinking of students. She is a former teacher in the areas of gifted education, middle school, kindergarten, and English at the high school level. She holds a BS in education (summa cum laude) from Wingate College and an MEd from the University of North Carolina. Hargett may be reached by phone: 704-253-5513; or e-mail: vhargett@carolina.rr.com.

David Hyerle is an author, a consultant, and a researcher whose work focuses on integrating content learning, instruction in thinking processes, and assessment. In his doctoral work at the University of California– Berkeley and the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Hyerle refined a practical language of visual tools he created called Thinking Maps^®. He has written and produced professional development resource guides, videos, and software packages based on Thinking Maps as tools for student-centered learning and whole-school change. He has also published articles and the ASCD books Visual Tools for Constructing Knowledge (1996) and A Field Guide to Using Visual Tools (2000). Hyerle can be reached at Designs for Thinking, 144 Goose Pond Rd., Lyme, NH 03768; phone/fax: 603-795-2757; e-mail: designs.thinking@valley.net.

Arnold Latti did his undergraduate studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in elementary education. After receiving his bachelor's degree, Latti received a professional diploma for elementary education in 1986. Inspired by the Habits of Mind, he received an MEd in educational foundations at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2001. He has taught elementary students for more than 20 years and has been on the faculty at Waikiki School since 1992.

Matt Lawrence has been at Waikiki School since 2000 and was introduced to the concept of the mindful school while there as a student teacher. He received a bachelor's degree in education from Illinois State University and a master's degree in educational psychology from the University of Hawaii. He is currently teaching 6th grade, where integrating Habits of Mind into project-based units of instruction is his primary focus.

David Perkins, codirector of Harvard Project Zero, is a senior research associate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is the author of several books, including Smart Schools: From Training Memories to Educating Minds and Outsmarting IQ: The Emerging Science of Learnable Intelligence; and many articles. He has helped to develop instructional programs and approaches for teaching understanding and thinking, including initiatives in South Africa, Israel, and Latin America. He is a former Guggenheim Fellow. Perkins can be reached at Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 323 Longfellow Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge, MA 02138; phone: 617-495-4342; fax: 617-496-4288; e-mail: David_Perkins@pz.harvard.edu.

Thommie DePinto Piercy was a public school teacher in grades K–5 for 18 years. She is the former vice principal of Friendship Valley Elementary School in Carroll County, Maryland, and currently teaches graduate courses in reading and writing. She has published articles about integrating reading comprehension with two of the Habits of Mind: (1) questioning and posing problems and (2) thinking about thinking (metacognition). She based her research on this topic at the University of Maryland and was honored with the International Reading Association's (IRA) Research Award. In 1999 she chaired and presented at the IRA Convention in San Diego with Regie Routman. DePinto Piercy has received the Bailor Award in recognition of her distinguished educational career. In her current role as principal of Mt. Airy Elementary School in Carroll County, Maryland, she has promoted a Habits of Mind culture as reflected in her new school's vision: "Success with a joy for learning and pride in a caring community." As author of a recent ALA publication, Compelling Conversations: Connecting Leadership to Achievement, and the Prekindergarten–Grade 12 Supervisor of Reading, she continues to strive to establish communities of learners who embrace common beliefs and practices aligned with the Habits of Mind. She can be reached at P.O. Box 1228, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425; phone: 304-725-3128; e-mail: tpiercy@ccpl.carr.org.

Curtis Schnorr is director of elementary schools in Carroll County, Westminster, Maryland. Previously, he was a school principal for 22 years. He spent seven years as principal at Friendship Valley Elementary School helping to create a "home for the mind." He has been a presenter at state and national conferences on incorporating the Habits of Mind into a school culture. Originally selected as principal for Friendship Valley, Schnorr has since had the opportunity to incorporate the Habits of Mind in his role as director of elementary schools. Schnorr can be reached at 517 Washington Rd., Westminster, MD 21157; phone: 410-876-1807; e-mail: ctschno@k12.carr.org.

Steve Seidel is the Bauman and Bryant Lecturer in Arts in Education and directs the Arts in Education Program and Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. At Project Zero, Seidel has been principal investigator for projects that have studied learning in the arts, the close examination of student work, reflective practices in schools, and children as individual and group learners. Before becoming a researcher, Seidel taught high school theater and language arts for 17 years. He has also worked as a professional actor and stage director. He may be reached at steve_seidel@pz.harvard.edu.

Bertie Simmons is the principal of E.L. Furr High School, an inner-city school in Houston, Texas. She has had a long career in public education as an elementary and secondary teacher, as well as an elementary and high school principal. She has held numerous positions in central administration, including the role of teaching strategist, which required that she work with inner-city schools in the Houston Independent School District to facilitate desegregation. She served as superintendent of the east region of the district, assistant superintendent of the south region, and superintendent of District VIII. She retired in 1995 as the assistant superintendent of campus management, a position that provided her with an opportunity to work with all schools in the district. After five years of working as an educational consultant, Simmons was called upon to assume the role of principal at Furr, a troubled school with serious gang activity and little focus on academics. She has worked to create a student-centered environment where teachers and students strive for excellence and where the school's mission can be realized. That mission is "Furr High School: where high expectations are met and hopes and dreams come true."

Nancy Skerritt is the assistant superintendent for teaching and learning in the Tahoma School District in Maple Valley, Washington. She has worked in the district since 1990 and has designed and published a training model for writing integrated curriculum with thinking skills and Habits of Mind as the core. Skerritt has conducted workshops in curriculum integration and thinking skills instruction. She is a member of the Washington State Assessment Advisory Committee, which is implementing a statewide performance-based assessment system. Before her work in curriculum development, Skerritt was a secondary language arts teacher and a counselor. Skerritt can be reached at the Tahoma School District office, 25720 Maple Valley/Black Diamond Rd. SE, Maple Valley, WA 98038; phone: 425-432-4481; fax: 425-432-5792; e-mail: nskerrit@tahoma.wednet.edu.

William A. Sommers lives in Austin, Texas, and is the director of Leadership and Organizational Development for Manor ISD. He has been a principal, university professor, and independent consultant for more than 30 years. Sommers is a senior fellow for the Urban Leadership Academy at the University of Minnesota. He served on the board of trustees for five years and is a past president for the National Staff Development Council.

Sommers is the former executive director for Secondary Curriculum and Professional Learning for Minneapolis Public Schools. Since 1990, he has been an associate trainer for the Center for Cognitive Coaching based in Denver, Colorado. Sommers has been a program director for an adolescent chemical dependency treatment center and on the board of a halfway house for 20 years.

He has co-authored six books, Living on a Tightrope: A Survival Handbook for Principals; Being a Successful Principal: Riding the Wave of Change Without Drowning; Reflective Practice to Improve Schools: An Action Guide for Educators; A Trainer's Companion: Stories to Stimulate Reflection, Conversation, Action; Energizing Staff Development Using Film Clips: Memorable Movie Moments That Promote Reflection, Conversation, and Action; and Leading Professional Learning Communities: Voice from Research and Practice.

In addition to writing many articles regarding coaching, assessment, and reflective thinking he also does training in poverty, leadership, organizational development, conflict management, brain research, and classroom management. Since 1970, Sommers has been in K–12 education as a teacher and principal in urban, suburban, and rural schools. He has served as an adjunct faculty member at Hamline University, the University of St. Thomas, St. Mary's University, the Union Institute, and Capella University.

Bonnie Tabor has been involved with Waikiki School since 1987, initially as a counselor and presently as the principal. She received her bachelor's degree from Case Western Reserve University, her master's degree in counseling from the University of Hawaii, and her master's in special education from the University of California. Throughout her professional career, she has found the Habits of Mind to be inspirational and fundamental to her vision of the purpose of education. As principal of Waikiki School, recently recognized as a State Blue Ribbon winner, she believes the Habits of Mind provide the vision, the direction, and the unity of purpose that have resulted in the school's status as a school of excellence.

Diane P. Zimmerman is superintendent of the Old Adobe Schools in Petaluma, California. She has worked as a teacher and an administrator in special education, as an elementary principal, and as assistant superintendent for human resources. Her work with job-embedded staff development has been featured in the joint ASCD-NSDC publication A New Vision for Staff Development. She has collaborated for more than 25 years with members of the cognitive coaching community and was identified as an early practitioner; she is featured in the ASCD video series Another Set of Eyes: Conferencing Skills. Zimmerman completed her PhD in organizational systems at the Fielding Institute in Santa Barbara, California. In her spare time, she continues to collaborate with colleagues and to write both articles and coauthored books.