Mike Thomas has worked for the past 11 years at Battelle for Kids to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools across the country. As a senior director of innovation, he has designed tools and delivered professional development to build the capacity of teachers and administrators. Much of this work has focused on the diagnostic and school improvement uses of value-added data. He recently co-authored the book How to Use Value-Added Analysis to Improve Student Learning. Over the past seven years, Mike has conducted workshops and assembled focus groups of high value-added teachers and principals to better understand what constitutes effective practice. This book is the culmination of that work.

Prior to joining Battelle for Kids, Mike served as the director of the Central Ohio Principals' Academy and the co-coordinator of the preservice elementary and middle school Masters of Education program at The Ohio State University. In this role he received a Distinguished Teaching Award. Mike spent the first 12 years of his career as a middle school math and science teacher.

Mike currently resides in Westerville, Ohio, with his wife, Lu Anne, and their dog, Kali. His daughter Emily is entering her senior year at Ohio State University; his son, Chris, is an officer in the US Air Force; and his daughter Lindsay is a nurse and the mother of his eight-year-old granddaughter, Kameron.