Professor and Co-Director of the Institute for School Reform at the University of South Florida. He is Co-Director of the Florida Statewide Problem-Solving/Response to Intervention Project for the Florida Department of Education. In addition, Dr. Batsche co-directs the Student Support Services, Shared Services Network and Coordinated Student Health Projects for the Florida Department of Education.

In the past 15 years, Dr. Batsche has received more than $30 million dollars in grants from the U.S. Department of Education, Florida Department of Education and private foundations. The majority of his work has focused on systems of implementing academic and behavior interventions for at-risk students.

Dr. Reschly is Professor of Education and Psychology in Peabody College, Vanderbilt University where he Chaired Department of Special Education from 1998-2006, gaining the #1 national ranking for the first time in 2003. From 1975 to 1998 Reschly directed the Iowa State University School Psychology Program where he achieved the rank of Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Education. Reschly earned graduate degrees at the University of Iowa and the University of Oregon and served as a school psychologist in Iowa, Oregon, and Arizona.

Reschly has published on response to intervention, reduction of special education disproportionality, identification of disabilities (high incidence, minority issues), and policy issues in special education. Recent funding and research focuses on teacher quality.

In 1999 Reschly was listed in the top 5 in school psychology career service contributions and in 2004 he was identified as the most widely cited author in school psychology books and journals over 2002-2004 period. He has been active in state and national leadership roles including President of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), Editor of the School Psychology Review, Chair of NASP-NCATE Graduate Program Approval, President of the Society for the Study of School Psychology, and Chair of the Council of Directors of School Psychology Programs. Reschly served on the National Academy of Sciences Panels on Standards-based Reform and the Education of Students with Disabilities and Minority Overrepresentation in Special Education. He chaired the National Academy Panel on Disability Determination in Mental Retardation.

He has received the NASP Lifetime Achievement Award, three NASP Distinguished Service Awards, the Stroud Award, appointment to Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychological Society, Charter Member of the Iowa Academy of Education, 1996 Outstanding Alumnus, College of Education, University of Oregon, 2000 NASP Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2007 NASP Legend Award.

Edward S. Shapiro, Ph.D., currently is Professor of School Psychology and Director, Center for Promoting Research to Practice in the College of Education at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He is the 2006 winner of the Senior Scientist Award given by the Division of School Psychology of the American Psychological Association in recognition of a senior member of the field who has provided a sustained program of outstanding theory and research to the field of school psychology. Author, co-author, and/or co-editor of 14 books including his most recently published fourth edition of Academic Skills Problems: Direct Assessment and Intervention and the Academic Skills Problems Workbook, both by Guilford Press as well as Models for Implementing Response to Intervention, Dr. Shapiro is best known for his work in curriculum-based assessment and methods for assessing and intervening in academic skills problems with elementary age students. Among his many projects, Dr. Shapiro recently completed a federal project focused on the development of a multi-tiered, Response-to-Intervention model in two districts in Pennsylvania and had recently been awarded a U.S. Department of Education training grant to train school psychologists as facilitators of RTI processes. Over the past ten years, Dr. Shapiro has been working as a consultant with the Pennsylvania Department of Education to facilitate an effort to establish progress monitoring systems for students in special education and is currently collaborating with the Pennsylvania Department of Education in developing and facilitating the implementation of the Response-to-Intervention methodology for the state.

Naomi Zigmond, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor, School of Education, University of Pittsburgh, has been an active special education researcher and teacher for four decades; her focus is on the organization of special education services for students with disabilities in elementary and secondary schools and the impact of program organization on student achievement. She has published many articles, book chapters, and books reporting research and advocating for more effective, inclusive, and special instructional opportunities for students with disabilities. Most recently, Zigmond has led a team of researchers and practitioners in the development, distribution, scoring, and reporting of the Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment, the Pennsylvania statewide alternate assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities.