Margarita Espino Calderón, PhD, Professor Emerita, Johns Hopkins University, has served on national preschool to 12th grade literacy panels and as an advisory board member of the National Research Council, the Education Testing Service, WIDA, the National Center for Learning Disabilities, the National Literacy Panel for Language Minority Children and Youth, and the Carnegie Adolescent English Language Learners Literacy Panel. She is a consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of Civil Rights. Her research interests include professional development, effective schools, and language and literacy development of English learners.

Dr. Calderón, a former middle and high school teacher, directed bilingual professional development programs at San Diego State University and taught bilingual and educational leadership courses at the University of Texas, El Paso and University of California, Santa Barbara. She has authored, coauthored, or edited more than 100 books, articles, and chapters, is an international speaker, and conducts comprehensive professional development programs throughout the United States and abroad.

Shawn Slakk is vice president of operations and senior consultant, Margarita Calderón & Associates, where he and his colleagues train teachers and administrators how to consolidate language, literacy, and content for English learners and all other students. Slakk is coauthor and developer of professional development sessions focusing on whole-school implementation, administrative support, and coaching. He serves as the lead ExC-ELL consultant for the state of Virginia. Recent projects include redesigning ExC-ELL for adult learners, implemented at the Ana G. Mendez University System campuses in Washington, DC, Florida, and Dallas, Texas.