Authors & Presenters

Ashley Avila is an implementation specialist for Marzano Academies, a current associate for Marzano Resources, and coauthor of Teaching in a Competency-Based Secondary School: The Marzano Academies Model.

Heather Babb has served in education for almost 20 years. Through her leadership, she guided her department, school, and district through the transition to a professional learning community (PLC), ultimately resulting in being recognized as a Model PLC at Work® school.

Justin Baeder is director of The Principal Center, where he helps school and district administrators build capacity for instructional leadership. Driven by the belief that leaders belong in classrooms—where the most important work is being done—he created the 21-Day Instructional Leadership Challenge, which has helped more than 10,000 leaders from 50 countries develop the habit of getting into classrooms and having evidence-based conversations with teachers.

Kim Bailey is former director of professional development and instructional support for the Capistrano Unified School District in California. She also served as an adjunct faculty member at Chapman University in California.

Dr. Anisa Baker-Busby was appointed principal of Shirley Hills Elementary in July 2022. She has over 20 years of educational experience serving as a teacher and administrator, and her passion is to help schools build systems of support that ensure high levels of learning for all students.

Bradley Balch, PhD, is professor and dean emeritus at Indiana State University. He is currently a graduate faculty member in the Department of Educational Leadership, Bayh College of Education, and affiliate faculty member in the Department of Management, Information Systems, and Business Education, Scott College of Business.

Dr. Tonya Balch is a professor in the Department of Applied Clinical and Educational Sciences in the Bayh College of Education at Indiana State University and has been the program coordinator for the School Counseling M.Ed. program for 15 years. She is passionate about ensuring excellence in graduate programming and providing authentic experiences in practice.

Jack Baldermann has been a passionate educational leader for over 30 years. His experience includes leading several high-poverty urban schools to significant success and supporting eight different priority or high-poverty schools to become Model PLC at Work® schools.

Brianna Bamber, EdD, is an assistant principal at a priority high school in Sacramento with more than 20 years of classroom experience. Her focus is on literacy instruction, best grading practices, feedback strategies, teacher clarity, and classroom culture.

Debora Bamforth, an educational speaker, has more than 40 years of experience in education. She served as principal of the D. J. Bakie School in New Hampshire and also worked in the Timberlane District, where she designed and implemented an enrichment program for a school of nearly 1,200 students before assuming the administrative role of curriculum coordinator.