about the old school: Real conversations with educational le

 Steven J. Bourgeois, PhD has been a practicing teacher for the past 32 years. Working primarily in Oregon and Texas, he has taught high school German, string orchestra, humanities, and applied music in addition to several years as a head tennis coach. He is an educational researcher and consultant with more than 30 years of experience in teaching, leadership, and applied policy analysis. He most recently served as Executive Director of Research for the largest charter school holder in Texas. He is the founder and CEO of Ahart Solutions, a national research organization supporting schools, universities, and nonprofits through survey research, qualitative analysis, and evaluation services. Since 2019, Ahart Solutions has collected over 1.5 million stakeholder responses and developed customized research projects for clients across the United States. He earned a BA in Music, a BA in German, and an MA in German from the University of Oregon. Dr. Bourgeois holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Texas at Arlington. He has served as an adjunct professor at both the University of Dallas and the University of Texas at Arlington. In addition, he is on the advisory board of the Canyon Center for Character Education at Grand Canyon University. His work emphasizes student motivation, distributive leadership, teacher attrition, and character development, and he has published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at national and international conferences. 

 Ross M. Miller, MA served four and a half years in the U.S. Marine Corps, participating in the first Gulf War in 1991, before earning a bachelors at Northeast Louisiana University in Monroe. After a brief stint in radio, he began his teaching career in Fort Worth, Texas. Meanwhile, he earned a master’s in history from the University of Texas at Arlington, focusing his thesis on the U.S. participation in the Boxer Rebellion. Mr. Miller has spent 25 years teaching U.S. history in various public high schools and community colleges in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, including Fort Worth, Lewisville, and Keller. Throughout his career he has taught every subject within the social studies discipline, including history, government, geography, and economics. Outside of the classroom, he has led or co-led a dozen student trips overseas as part of cultural exchanges, primarily partnering with schools in Germany and Japan. Mr. Miller has also previously been a part of the Fort Worth Sister Cities International Leadership Academy, a summer program that includes students from most of the city’s partner cities. He has spoken at professional conferences on issues facing education and has published in a peer-review journal on the same. He currently serves at Keller High School in Keller, Texas, as a U.S. history teacher and the department chair.