Laurie Barron is superintendent of the Evergreen School District in Kalispell, Montana, and was named 2021 Montana Superintendent of the Year. She has been a high school English teacher and coach, a middle school assistant principal, a middle school principal, and a part-time assistant professor. A National Board–certified teacher, she was 2012 Georgia Principal of the Year and 2013 MetLife/NASSP National Middle Level Principal of the Year. Barron is a coauthor of the books What Parents Need to Know About Common Core and Other College-
and Career-Ready Standards and Middle School: A Place to Belong and Become and has authored numerous articles. She is also a speaker who provides motivation and professional learning to teachers and administrators throughout the United States.

Patti Kinney speaks, presents, and consults on middle-level education. She is a past president of the Association for Middle Level Education and of the Oregon Middle Level Association. In 1996, she was Oregon Assistant Principal of the Year; in 2003, she was both Oregon Principal of the Year and the Met-Life/NASSP National Middle Level Principal of the Year. Kinney has written several books, including Fostering Student Accountability Through Student- Led Conferences and (with Laurie Barron) What Parents Need to Know about Common Core and Other College-  and Career- Ready Standards and Middle School: A Place to Belong and Become. Her numerous articles include regular pieces in NASSP's Principal Leadership.