Jeffrey D. Wilhelm. Jeffrey Wilhelm is Distinguished Professor of English Education at Boise State University in Boise, Idaho. He is the founding director of the Boise State Writing Project that supports over 3,000 teachers each year with over 110,000 contact hours of professional development. He is a highly-regarded author and co-author of over 37 books about literacy and literacy education. He has also edited several book series and written several books for children and young adults. Jeff has devoted his professional career to helping teachers help their students. He is particularly devoted to assisting students who are considered to be reluctant, struggling, or at-risk. His research agenda is organized around creating supportive inquiry-oriented contexts for developing and performing literacy, literate behaviors, and literate identities. His research demonstrates how inquiry environments are powerful contexts for learning literacy and achieving deep understanding.  He has won the two top research awards in English Education a total of three times: the NCTE Promising Research Award for "You Gotta BE the Book" (Teachers College Press) and the Russell Award for Distinguished Research in the Teaching of English first for "Reading Don't Fix No Chevys" (2005) and then for Reading Unbound: Promoting the Power of Pleasure Reading (2016).  Jeff is a frequently-requested speaker at state, regional, national, and international conferences and a provider of professional development on a variety of topics to educators and administrators.

Chris Butts. Chris Butts is a Title I Coach at Frank Church High School in the Boise School District, co-teaching in English and Math classrooms. Additionally, he spent ten years at the elementary level as a paraprofessional for English Language Learners and then as a 3rd grade teacher. He has been a Teacher-Consultant with the Boise State Writing Project since 2012. He has designed and facilitated online courses about teaching informational and argument writing. As a coach and co-director for the Idaho Coaching Network he assisted teachers in the creation of their own inquiry as cognitive apprenticeship units and trained teachers in how to lead professional development at their respective sites. He is passionate about working with marginalized learners of any age.

Jackie Miller. Jackie Miller is a respected educator and instructional coach in the state of Idaho. She previously taught elementary school for 12 years, and now facilitates professional development and coaching support for teachers across the state of Idaho through the Idaho Coaching Network. This network adopts the National Writing Project premise that teachers are the best teachers of teachers because they can and do speak from the authority of their practice. In this network, Jackie helps to cultivate teacher leaders who grapple with and embrace best instructional practices and extend their learning by sharing with colleagues in their schools and districts. Through this pay-it-forward approach, teacher leaders in this network provide thousands of hours of professional development that impacts every district in the state. Jackie also co-teaches classes for educators through the Boise State Writing Project and works diligently to help teachers to transfer and apply their learning in their contexts. Throughout her career, Jackie has worked with both students and teachers, empowering them to grow their self-efficacy and rise to their highest potential. She is an advocate of an inquiry approach to learning and has employed this in her classroom across all disciplines.