Grant Wiggins is the President of Authentic Education in Hopewell, New Jersey. He earned his Ed.D. from Harvard University and his B. A. from St. John's College in Annapolis. Grant consults with schools, districts and state education departments; organizes conferences and workshops; and develops print materials and Web resources on curricular change. He is perhaps best known for being the co-author, with Jay McTighe, of Understanding By Design and The Understanding By Design Handbook, the award-winning and highly successful materials on curriculum published by ASCD. His work has been supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and the National Science Foundation.
Over the past twenty years, Grant has worked on some of the most influential reform initiatives in the country, including Vermont's portfolio system and Ted Sizer's Coalition of Essential Schools. He has established statewide Consortia devoted to assessment reform for the states of North Carolina and New Jersey. Grant is the author of Educative Assessment and Assessing Student Performance, both published by Jossey-Bass. His many articles have appeared in such journals as Educational Leadership and Phi Delta Kappan.
His work is grounded in 14 years of secondary school teaching and coaching. Grant taught English and electives in philosophy, coached Varsity soccer, Cross Country, JV Baseball, and Track & Field. Grant has more recently coached his two sons in soccer and baseball. He also plays guitar and sings in the Hazbins, a rock band. He can be reached at [email protected].
www.authenticeducation.org Ed Leadership Article "Putting Understanding First" Edutopia Article "Defining Assessment" The Case for Authentic Assessment
Jay McTighe is an expert in thinking skills, instructional strategies, curriculum models, and assessment. As an educational consultant and staff development specialist, he helps districts and schools implement better practices and more effective assessment and instructional strategies. Mr. McTighe has served as Director of the Maryland Assessment Consortium, a state collaboration of school districts working together to develop and share formative performance assessments. He has been involved with school improvement projects at the Maryland State Department of Education and directed the development of the Instructional Framework, a multi-media database on teaching. Mr. McTighe has also served as a classroom teacher, resource specialist, program coordinator, and as Director of the Maryland Summer Center for Gifted and Talented Students.
Mr. McTighe has published articles in several leading journals and has co-authored several books. He received his undergraduate degree from The College of William and Mary and earned a Masters from the University of Maryland.