Mary-Dean Barringer is the Chief Executive Officer of All Kinds of Minds, a nonprofit organization that translates groundbreaking research from neuroscience and other disciplines on how children learn--and vary in their learning--into a powerful framework that educators can use in their schools.Throughout her career in education, Mary-Dean has been dedicated to keeping America focused on learning--making schools are the most effective learning environments for all children. She was a founding board member of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and then served as Vice President of Outreach and Mobilization from 1990-2000. Her core responsibilities included working with state policymakers and national organizations to develop financial and other incentives to encourage teachers to seek National Board Certification. By 2000, 38 states and 200 districts had embraced the program that grew in volume from 200 in the first year to 14,000 six years later.Mary-Dean started her career as teacher of exceptional needs students in Michigan. As a special education teacher for 13 years, Mary-Dean received numerous awards and recognition for her innovation and advocacy, including the 1985 Council for Exceptional Children's National Teacher of the Year award and induction in 2008 into the Eastern Michigan University College of Education Hall of Fame.Mary-Dean received a Bachelor's of Science in special education from Eastern Michigan University and earned a dual-major Master's of Science in developmental disabilities and early childhood from Wayne State University. She pursued doctoral studies in education policy at Michigan State University until 1994.