About the Consultants

Paul Dain is an educational consultant with 35 years of teaching experience, and works full time on Authentic Approaches in education. After leaving the classroom he continued to work with his former employer, Bloomfield Hills Schools, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, serving as their social studies consultant, and was the coordinator and professional development instructor for Excellence in Teaching Authentic Academic Achievement. He presently works with teachers, administrators and school districts in professional development training using Excellence In Teaching for Authentic Academic Achievement.

While in Bloomfield Hills, Paul, taught American Government, Advanced Placement American Government, and Advanced Placement Comparative Government at Andover High School. In addition, he served as Social Studies Department Chair. Paul also coached the Andover track and field, cross country, and mock trial teams.

As Vice President of the Bloomfield Hills Education Association, Paul was instrumental in developing Excellence in Teaching Authentic Academic Achievement that provides rewards for experienced teachers who have completed an intensive professional development process and have successfully met a rigorous set of teaching standards.

During his professional teaching career, Paul received the following honors:

• Newsweek - WDIV Michigan Outstanding Teacher Award, 1997
• Law-Related Education, Michigan Teacher-of-the-Year, 1994
• Michigan Council for the Social Studies, Outstanding Social Studies Teacher Award for 1983
• Master Teacher Selection, Bloomfield Hills Schools, 1987

In 1984, Paul authored the Detroit Free Press Elections Workbook, an advanced-level workbook for high school teachers to use in teaching about presidential elections.

Jane A. Dain works as an educational consultant with Authentic Approaches and specializes in evaluating and editing curriculum work.

Jane taught for 22 years, first in the social studies and then in special education. She served as a teacher consultant at the elementary and high school levels and as program coordinator for secondary special education programs. Her primary focus was the development of post high school community based programs for the mentally impaired.

Jane has experience in the development of curriculum, educational testing and program development and implementation. She has conducted district wide in-service training, parent training, state wide training of trainers for the Michigan Transition Project in addition to presentations to local community groups.

During her professional career, Jane has:

• Developed and in-serviced a district wide plan for implementation of transition services for handicapped students.
• In-serviced parents on the Michigan Transition Life Plan Model.
• Authored grants for Community Based Instruction and Peer Tutoring.
• Co-authored module for the Michigan State Transition Project incorporating IEP and Transition goals.
• Co-chaired the committee for the development and implementation of a post secondary program for mentally impaired youth ages 18-26.
• Edited the CLIMB (Clarifying Language in Michigan Benchmarks) project as part of a Federal grant program in the State of Michigan.
• Edited instructional lessons K-2 for the SCoPE (A Sample Core Curriculum for Michigan Schools) project in the State of Michigan.
• Authored special education lesson accommodations for the SCoPE project.
• Edit resource materials for Harcourt Global Library, Raintree Publishers.

Mike Zinn is an educational consultant with 18 years of teaching experience and 20 years of human resource training experience. His clients include school districts, automotive suppliers, high-tech companies, service organizations, etc.

While a middle school teacher and high school teacher in Michigan, Mike taught American Political Behavior and developed an Activity Oriented Program (AOP) for use in the classroom. Dearborn High School students selected him as the “Teacher of the Year” in 1978. Mike also coached swimming and diving, serving as President of the Michigan and National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association.

Mike started IMPACT Training & Development in 1983 and developed a systematic four-phase school improvement process. Over 200 individual schools and school districts throughout the Midwest have used the process. Key components of the process include structuring and organizing for improvement, providing leadership and facilitation skills for team leaders and administrators and facilitating team training and planning sessions.

During his professional career, Mike has also:

• Facilitated the school consolidation process within school districts.
• Developed a collaborative bargaining process.
• Created a visual planning process to monitor improvement progress.
• Authored “Conducting Results-Oriented Meetings.”