Paul Bloomberg is a national consultant specializing in school turnaround and school transformation. As a school administrator, Bloomberg was instrumental in turning around three schools in San Diego County. Currently, Paul is the Executive Director of The Core Collaborative, a professional learning network specializing in student centered approaches to learning. He is also the former director of Transformative Inquiry Design for Effective Schools and Systems (TIDES), a nonprofit based in San Diego, CA. He is an experienced school improvement coach and trainer. Over the past three years he has supported over 10 districts/schools in their transition to Common Core through coaching, professional development and curriculum support.

Barb Pitchford is a national consultant specializing in leadership for school improvement. During her 30 plus years in public education, Barb has worked at all school levels – high, middle, and elementary – as a teacher, counselor, and administrator. For the past 10 years Barb has worked as a professional learning consultant specializing in powerful and practical leadership for improved learning for both students and teachers. Currently, Barb works with Corwin Press as a consultant specializing in John Hattie’s Visible Learning work and is the Executive Director of Professional Learning and co-founder of The Core Collaborative. Barb’s passion is supporting schools to use their greatest resource, their teachers, to build knowledge, skills, and confidence to ensure success for both students and teachers. Based on the research around collaboration and formative assessment, Barb specializes in developing Impact Teams to improve teacher quality and student achievement.