Nancy Akhavan is the author of This Is Balanced Literacy, The Big Book of Literacy Tasks, and The Nonfiction Now Lesson Bank, as well as a speaker who works with teachers and leaders across the U.S. Nationally, Nancy provides professional development and consulting to organizations, schools and school districts. She coaches school leaders and leadership teams to develop effective instructional practices focused on student achievement, to create systems for organizational effectiveness in management and to create coherence within school districts and schools. She has also provided professional development to school and district leaders on leadership, literacy and equity and has helped hundreds of teachers in their classrooms.