Daniel R. Venables is founder and executive director of the "Center for Authentic PLCs", a research and consulting firm dedicated to assisting schools build and sustain authentic Professional Learning Communities. He is a Math/Science Fellow with the "Coalition of Essential Schools" and an award-winning classroom teacher of 24 years. He currently resides on a horse farm in South Carolina with his wife Brady, their therapy dogs, Blue and Flo, and a cat named Fahrney.