Ron Klemp has been with the LA Unified School district since 1973. He taught reading, English, and social studies in the inner city of Los Angeles at a junior high and a high school. He was a dean of discipline for 10 years at two middle schools and was a facilitator at the district's Secondary Northridge Practitioner Center, a professional development program for new and continuing service teachers. He has presented cooperative literacy in several states at local and national conferences. He has taught at California State University, Northridge, since 1986 and also at Cal Lutheran University, and was an associate professor at National University. He served two terms as a member of the National Middle School Association Research Committee, and has published in the Middle School Journal, The Reading Teacher, and various state middle school journals. He created the Middle School Peace Institutes in Los Angeles, California, and in Jackson, Mississippi. Recently he has contributed to two books on reading for secondary students. Ron can be reached at Ron.Klemp@lausd.net.