Margo Gottlieb, Ph.D., is WIDA's co-founder and Lead Developer. Starting her career as an inner city ESL/ bilingual teacher and coordinator, she has since provided technical assistance and professional learning experiences to school districts, states, publishers, governments, universities, and organizations. In addition, she has enjoyed serving on numerous state and national expert panels. In 2004, Margo was honored as a Fulbright senior specialist in assessment and evaluation; in 2016, she was recognized by TESOL International Association's 50@50 "as an individual who has made a significant contribution to the TESOL profession within the past 50 years." Throughout the years Margo has had opportunities to present in Asia, Central America, Europe, the Middle East, North America, the Pacific, and South America as well as close to home across the United States. Margo's publications span over 90 articles, monographs, manuals, technical reports, and chapters. Her latest book is Assessing English language learners: Bridges to equity, 2nd Ed. (2016). She is co-author (with G. Ernst-Slavit, 2014) of Academic Language in Diverse Classrooms: Definitions and Contexts, a foundational book for a series Promoting Content and Language Learning (a compendium of 3 mathematics and 3 language arts volumes co-edited with G. Ernst-Slavit, 2014, 2013). Her other books include: Common Language Assessment for English Learners (2012); Paper to Practice: Using the TESOL's English Language Proficiency Standards in PreK-12 Classrooms (with A. Katz & G. Ernst-Slavit, 2009); and Assessment and Accountability in Language Education Programs: A Guide for Administrators and Teachers (with D. Nguyen, 2007). Margo's areas of interest are the development and implementation of standards frameworks and systems, curriculum design, academic language use, and the conceptualization of assessments for multilingual students.

Lynn Shafer Willner conducts research and development on areas related to ELD Standards and Accessibility for the WIDA Consortium. She supports WIDA’s development of ELD standards-related materials and with research, materials, and guidance for educators who work with ELLs with disabilities. She is a member of the WIDA Standards Team and works closely with the WIDA Assessment and Professional Learning departments. Previously, Lynn worked at WestEd, supporting the development and implementation of state and national English Language Development standards and conducting Common Core State Standards alignment studies. In addition, she supported the development of the PARCC K–2 Model Content Framework for English language arts and mathematics. She also worked at George Washington University, where she helped SEAs refine their ELL accommodation policies and guideline and created online trainings to support their implementation.