John Edwards has always been fascinated with the beauty of the human mind. He began his working life as a research metallurgist. He has worked as a teacher and department head in schools; in state, national and international curriculum development roles; and has written textbooks for schools. Through his extensive university career he has been one of the leading research grant recipients in cognitive science in Australia.

John’s research began in his own classrooms which led to publications in the areas of the direct teaching of thinking and what are children thinking whilst teachers are teaching. He has explored areas including: how people think; what tests really test; ways to measure the intellectual demand of learning; how to generate successful change in organisations; innovation and creativity; leadership; internally-driven transformation of schools; and creating productive feedback environments. He worked on a major project using Piaget’s clinical method to reveal how South-East Asian children develop science and mathematics concepts.

John is Managing Director of Edwards Explorations, an Australia-based company concerned with exploring and developing human potential. He has worked inside many leading Australian and international companies, and sporting organizations, to research and deliver powerful cultures of learning. He has dedicated a large part of his life to the work that forms the basis of this book; helping school communities create the schools they know are right for their children.

Dr Edwards is one of the few international researchers to turn his research into award-winning practice in education, in business and industry, and in high performance sport.

Bill Martin loves working inside schools to build positive learning environments for children. He has done this for 49 years. He taught in primary and middle schools for 17 years, was a secondary assistant and high school principal for 16 years. On two occasions he led large schools to win State and National Blue Ribbon awards for excellence. Since 2003 he has worked with over 180 schools across six countries to support efforts to create powerful learning cultures.

He has earned personal awards for educational leadership: in 1991 he was one of five finalists in the first National Secondary Principal of the Year competition sponsored by the NASSP and Metropolitan Life. In 1993 he was named one of ten Principals of Leadership by the National School Safety Center. In 2000 the Michigan State Legislature proclaimed a Special Tribute to Bill’s leadership as principal of Monroe High School.

He has presented invited addresses at International Conferences on Thinking in New Zealand, the U.K., USA, Australia, Sweden, Spain and Malaysia. He has been a keynote presenter at the International Conference on Ignorance. Bill has served on a United Nations team to make recommendations for the reform of secondary education in Kuwait. He has designed and facilitated long-term professional development programs to grow leadership capacity for the Tonsberg Kommune in Norway, and the Varberg and Kungsbacka Kommunes in Sweden. In Lexington Public Schools, Bill served as the Smaller Learning Community Technical Advisor for the district’s five high schools.

Bill can be reached at clcoalition@yahoo.com.