Vincent A. Anfara, Jr. is Associate Professor and Coordinator of Educational Administration and Supervision at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He received the Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the University of New Orleans in 1995. Before entering the professorate, he taught for 23 years in both middle and high schools in Louisiana and New Mexico. His research interests focus on middle school reform, school improvement planning, leadership in middle schools, and issues related to student achievement. He is Past Chair of the National Middle School Association’s (NMSA) Research Advisory Board, Executive Director and Past-President of the American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) Middle Level Education Research Special Interest Group, and a member of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform. He has authored over 80 articles published in journals including Middle School Journal, Research in Middle Level Education Annual, Education and Urban Society, The Journal of School Leadership, NASSP Bulletin, and Educational Researcher. Vincent is the author/editor of 10 books related to middle grades education. Recent works include The Encyclopedia of Middle Grades Education (with Andrews & Mertens, 2005), The Developmentally Responsive Middle Level Principal: A Leadership Model and Measurement Instrument (2006), and Theoretical Frameworks in Qualitative Research (with Mertz, 2007). He serves on the editorial boards of Urban Education, NASSP Bulletin, Research in Middle Level Education Online, and the International Studies in Educational Administration.