Rob Riordan, Ed.D.,

School CUlture and Design Expert, Critical Friend

Rob is a co-founder of High Tech High and President Emeritus of the HTH Graduate School of Education. A teacher, trainer and program developer for over 40 years, he has worked with teams to develop 14 new schools (11 at High Tech High) spanning the K-12 years.  As a long-time teacher in the Cambridge (MA) Rindge and Latin School, Rob developed an award-winning writing center and two pioneering school-to-work transition programs: the Cambridge-Polaroid Technical Internship Program and the Cambridge-Lesley Careers in Education Program.  For several years during this time, as a faculty member of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, he led the practicum seminar for Harvard’s student teachers. Later, under the auspices of the Office of Vocational and Adult Education in the U.S. Department of Education, he directed the New Urban High School project that led to the development of High Tech High.  Rob holds a B.A. from Haverford College and an M.A.T. and Ed.D. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where his doctoral dissertation was a five-year case history of the evolution of goals and practices in a public alternative high school. He is co-author, with Adria Steinberg and Kathleen Cushman, of Schooling for the Real World: The Essential Guide to Rigorous and Relevant Learning.

Laura Mcbain

Learning Designer, Facilitator and Critical Friend

Laura is the K12 Director of Community and Implementation at the Stanford d.school in Palo Alto. Prior to that, Laura worked at High Tech High in San Diego. She wore several hats, including the Director of External Relations and the Director of Education Leadership Academy at the High Tech High Graduate School of Education. 

As the Director of External Relations, Laura has traveled the globe designing and leading professional development focused on the implementation of progressive education, school transformation, deeper learning and equity initiatives. She has served as a principal of two HTH sites and has taught middle and high school classes in public charter and comprehensive schools. She has written charters, analyzed educational data and worked closely with district and state accountability agencies. Laura has also been the architect of the Deeper Learning Conference, a 1200 person, adult learning experience aimed at activating and galvanizing educators for large-scale change. Her work has been inspired by those who have come before like Dewey, Ted Sizer, Paulo Freire and Deborah Meir. She is passionate about disrupting educational inequities and unleashing educators.

She has B.A. in English and minors in Political Science and Spanish from Miami University and an Ed.M. in Education Policy and Management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. At Harvard she worked at the Center for Law and Education developing policy initiatives relating to the re-authorization of the Individual with Disabilities Education Act. Her current research centers on transformative change in school. Laura is an avid runner, runs an educational podcast, and is always ideating.

Kirk Greer 

COLLABORATOR, Coach, AND LEARNING DESIGNER

Kirk is the Upper School Division Head at the Latin School of Chicago.  Most recently, Kirk served as interim Director of Studies and Professional Development at the Latin School of Chicago. In that role his responsibilities included developing a new Strategic Plan Dashboard, enhancing and managing the teacher evaluation system, designing and implementing Latin’s new Statement of Teaching and Learning, overseeing Latin's Faculty Mentoring program, and working to assure JK-12 curricular alignment.

Kirk has taught at Latin for 12 years and is a Junior Faculty Fellow. He began his experience with Strategic Planning (and work with GLP!) as faculty co-chair for Latin's 2013-18 planning committee. He continues to serve as Manager for Latin’s 10 year/$5 million Teacher Excellence Grant, the largest award in the school’s history. In addition to training in instructional coaching at Northwestern University, Kirk graduated from Kenyon College with a BA in political science and economics and from the University of Chicago with an MA in political science.