Mark Schwingle, PhD, has been in the education field for over 30 years as an instructional aide, a teacher and program coordinator, and has been at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (WI DPI) for well over 23 years. For the last eight years he has served as the WI DPI consultant overseeing gifted/talented education, Advanced Placement, and the International Baccalaureate schools in the state of Wisconsin. He also is the DPI contact for the Rural Education and Achievement Program (REAP) grants.