Kathleen Devlin is the Director of Policy and Public Affairs for the Ontario Teachers’ Federation. She was educated at the University of British Columbia and Carleton University where she was a political science major. She is also a graduate of the Ottawa Teachers’ College. Kathleen has worked as an elementary school teacher, as a radio-producer and writer-broadcaster at the CBC, and as a political staff advisor at Queen’s Park. She was a communications advisor to the Minister of Citizenship and the Minister of Labour. She was also the Director of Communications for the Leader of the Opposition.

Marguerite Jackson is the CEO of the Education Quality and Accountability Office. She has worked as a teacher, consultant, principal and Director of Education for the North York Board and the Toronto District School Board. Marguerite is a strong advocate for literacy and initiated the first provincial courses for reading certification.

David Johnson is a Professor of Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University and Education Policy Scholar at the C.D. Howe Institute.  His education research is wide ranging including the analysis of elementary school test scores in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.  

Dr. Joel Westheimer is University Research Chair in the Sociology of Education and Professor of Education at the University of Ottawa. He teaches, researches, and writes on democratic engagement, social justice, service learning, and community in education. His publications include Among Schoolteachers (1998) and What Kind of Citizen? Schools, Civic Education, and the Promise of Democracy (forthcoming, 2010). In 2005, he was named John Glenn Service Learning Scholar for Social Justice by the John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy, and in 2009 the Canadian Education Association gave Westheimer the prestigious Whitworth Award for education research that makes a difference.