Kathleen Budge brings a blend of 26 years of experience as a teacher and administrator combined with nearly two decades of work dedicated to bridging the gap between the university and the teaching profession. She is professor emerita at Boise State University, where her research continues to focus on poverty, rural education, and school improvement. She is co-author (with Grant Chandler) of the forthcoming (April, 2023) book Powerful Student Care: Honoring Each Student as Distinctive and Irreplaceable. She also co-authored (with William Parrett) the award-winning Turning High-Poverty Schools into High-Performing Schools, 2nd Edition, and the best-selling Disrupting Poverty: Five Powerful Classroom Practices. Budge has conducted numerous presentations at international, national, and state conferences and served as guest speaker for webinars, podcasts, and symposiums related to the topics of poverty, rural education, and the whole child. Her consultancies include state departments, boards of education, education associations, state and regional service providers; as well as schools and districts across the U.S. and internationally. She continues to maintain that her most important and significant work has been teaching first graders to read.

Along with Kathleen Budge, Grant A. Chandler is the author Powerful Student Care: Honoring Each Learning as Distinctive & Irreplaceable (ASCD, 2023). Chandler brings over 35 years of practical experience as a high school teacher, building and central office administrator, higher education dean, professional learning director in an outreach department at a large research university, and as a technical support provider and executive coach. He is currently the president and chief executive officer of Students Matter. He is the host of The Wheelhouse, a podcast currently in its fourth season and co-host of Abundantly Charged, currently entering its third season. Since 2005, Chandler has provided technical support to over 300 districts in developing systemic approaches to solving student learning issues and was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a national expert in small learning communities. He has designed and led professional learning experiences at many levels of the K-12 arena and for many different audiences and has conducted numerous workshops at national, state, and regional conferences. His consultancies include boards of education, state and regional service providers; as well as individual schools and local districts across the United States and internationally. In his spare time, he’s writing a children’s book and raises standard poodles for animal-assisted activities.