Our Featured Speakers
Joe Feldman, Ed.M.
Joe Feldman has worked in education for over 20 years as a teacher, principal, and district administrator, and is the founder and CEO of Crescendo Education Group (crescendoedgroup.org), which since 2013 has supported K-12 schools, districts, and colleges/universities nationwide to improve grading and assessment practices. He has presented at many education conferences, and his writings have been published in Education Week, Kappan, Education Leadership, District Administrator, and Black Press USA. His book, Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms (Corwin) was published in 2018. Crescendo Education Group has partnered with the National Education Association as well as the American Federation of Teachers, National Association of Independent Schools, and Stanford University’s Challenge Success. His online course for Grading for Equity launched this year.
Joe earned his B.A. from Stanford University and a Master’s degree in Teaching and Curriculum from the Harvard School of Education, and is also the author of Teaching Without Bells: What We Can Learn from Powerful Practice in Small Schools (Paradigm, 2010). He lives in Oakland with his wife and two children.
Thomas Guskey, Ph.D.
Tom Guskey is Professor Emeritus in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky where he served as Department Chair, Head of the Educational Psychology Area Committee, and President of the Faculty Council. He has been a Visiting Professor at ten other universities in the U.S. and a Visiting Scholar at universities in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. He began his career in education as a middle school teacher and earned his doctorate at the University of Chicago under the direction of Professor Benjamin S. Bloom. He served as an administrator in Chicago Public Schools before becoming the first director of the Center for the Improvement of Teaching and Learning, a national research center.
Dr. Guskey is the author/editor of 25 award-winning books and more than 250 book chapters, articles, and professional papers on educational measurement, evaluation, assessment, grading, and professional learning, including his two most recent book, On Your Mark, and Get Set, Go! His articles have appeared in prominent research journals including the American Educational Research Journal, Educational Researcher, and Review of Educational Research, as well as practitioner publications such as Education Week, Educational Leadership, Phi Delta Kappan, and The Learning Professional, and School Administrator. He served on the Policy Research Team of the National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future, and on the task force to develop the National Standards for Professional Development.
Robert Talbert, Ph.D.
Robert Talbert is a Professor of Mathematics at Grand Valley State University. He holds a B.S. degree in Mathematics from Tennessee Technological University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mathematics from Vanderbilt University.
In addition to teaching courses ranging from precalculus to abstract algebra, Robert is a writer and researcher on teaching and learning issues including flipped learning and mastery grading. He is the author of Flipped Learning: A Guide for Higher Education Faculty and ten research articles on teaching and learning questions. During the 2017-2018 academic year, Robert was Scholar-in-Residence at Steelcase, where he worked with the Steelcase Workspace Futures group on projects related to active learning classrooms. He is a frequent keynote speaker and workshop facilitator, working with faculty throughout the US and abroad.
Robert lives with his wife, three teenage children, and four cats near the Lake Michigan shoreline in Allendale, Michigan.
Matt Townsley, Ed.D.
Matt Townsley is co-author of the book, Making Grades Matter: Standards-Based Grading in a Secondary PLC at Work (2020, Solution Tree). As a former district administrator and secondary teacher in the Solon Community School District (Solon, IA), he has firsthand experience implementing and leading lasting grading reform. District Administration magazine named Solon Community Schools a district of distinction in 2015, and Solution Tree recognized multiple buildings in the district as model professional learning communities during his tenure. Through conferences, professional development and workshops, Dr. Townsley has consulted with thousands of educators and parents across the country on the topics of assessment and grading.
In 2017, Matt was named Iowa’s Central Office Administrator of the year and in 2014, he was recognized as an ASCD Emerging Leader. His writing can be found in publications such as Educational Leadership, School Administrator, ASCD Express, NASSP Bulletin, and American Secondary Education. In addition, he has been featured or quoted on The Christian Science Monitor, CNN.com, The Washington Post, California and Kansas public radio, the Center for Digital Education, Education Week, as well as presented at national conferences such as the Learning Forward Annual Conference, National Conference on Education (AASA), and the Association for Middle Level Education (AMLE) Annual Conference.
Matt received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics education from Wartburg College, a master’s degree in curriculum and instructional technology from Iowa State University, a certificate of advanced study in educational leadership from the University of Northern Iowa, and a doctorate in school improvement from the University of West Georgia.
