Listening to the People We Have the Privilege to Serve

After serving as a teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent, in 2016 Tiffany Anderson EdD, became the first African American female superintendent for Topeka Public Schools in Topeka, Kansas. home of Brown v. Board, the Supreme Court case that ended legal segregation. Dr. Anderson is the longest serving superintendent in Topeka Public Schools, and during her tenure, they gained 3 national Magna Awards from the National School Board Association under her leadership for their innovative approaches impacting families and the community.  Over the decades of serving as a superintendent, Dr. Anderson's transformational leadership approach in addressing the needs of families has been captured in publications that include articles, speaking engagements, a docuseries, and  in 2016, she was selected by EDWeek as one of the nation's 16 Leaders to Learn From.  In 2023, the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) recognized Dr. Anderson with the national 2023 Women in School Leadership Award. Dr. Anderson attended Saint Louis University for her Bachelors, University of Missouri St. Louis for her Masters and Saint Louis University for her Doctorate. In 2022 Dr. Anderson received her Master’s in Divinity. She has served as adjunct faculty for multiple universities and for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, she is a Professor of Practice for Kansas State University, and she is a board member on the Kansas Board of Regents for the Technical Education Authority overseeing all two year colleges and technical schools. Dr. Anderson was the Co-Chair for the Commission for Racial Equity and Justice in Kansas and she is a leader in implementing strategies that build parent capacity in public health. 

Peter DeWitt (Ed.D) is the founder and CEO of the Instructional Leadership Collective, and approaches everything with a learner's mindset. He was a K-5 teacher for 11 years and a principal for 8 years. For over 12 years, he has been facilitating professional learning nationally, and internationally, based on the content of many of his best-selling educational books. 

DeWitt's professional learning relationships are a monthly hybrid approach that includes both coaching and the facilitating workshops on instructional leadership and collective efficacy. His work has been adopted at the state level, university level, and he works with numerous school districts, school boards, regional networks, ministries of education around North America, Australia, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the U.K.

Peter writes the Finding Common Ground column for Education Week with Michael Nelson and they host Corwin’s Leaders Coaching Leaders podcast. In 2020 DeWitt co-created Education Week's A Seat At the Table where he moderates conversations with experts around the topics of race, gender, research, trauma and many other educational topics.

Peter is the author, co-author or contributor of numerous books and his articles have appeared in educational research journals at the state, national and international level. His books have been translated into numerous languages. 

There is no more noble profession than that of an educator was what Michael Nelson’s mom said almost every day while he was growing up. For almost 40 years, Michael has been an educator. His mom would be pleased.  

Even though Michael still considers “teacher” as his  primary title, he has served in roles of principal, district instructional leader, superintendent, assistant executive director developing professional development for the state of Washington, and currently as the Thought Partner for the Instructional Leadership Collective.

Michael has received many state and national awards during his time as a principal and superintendent. As principal, his school received the National Blue Ribbon Award from the United States Department of Education. As a superintendent, he was named Washington state’s 2019 Superintendent of the Year. During his tenure as superintendent, Michael was elected President of the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA) by his peers. 

Michael Nelson co-facilitates coaching, keynotes, and workshops with Peter DeWitt. Their first book “Leading with Intention” was released in May 2024.