Dorothy Rich, Ed.D. author, lecturer and pioneering leader in the field of parent involvement in education, is founder and president of the nonprofit Home and School Institute (HSI) based in Washington, DC.  She is author of the original MegaSkills® books and is the developer of the MegaSkills training programs used by over 4,000 (primarily Title I) schools across the United States and abroad.  Her newest work is Improving Student Achievement Through MegaSkills.

Dorothy Rich is a parent, teacher and grandparent.  She started work on how families help children learn over four decades ago.  She is the child of immigrants and grew up in a small town in Michigan where, as a small girl, she raised chickens.

Her major concerns in education are focused on building all children's capacity to learn and to want to learn more.  That's key to her work with MegaSkills, which develops children's "inner engines for learning."  The MegaSkills are:  Confidence, Motivation, Effort, Responsibility, Initiative, Perseverance, Caring, Teamwork, Common Sense, Problem Solving and Focus.

Rich has focused, in her lifetime of work in education reform, on helping families and educators team together to build achievement for school and beyond.  Among her honors: selection by the National Association of School Principals as Distinguished Lecturer, Who's Who in America and keynote presentations for state and district systems.

Dr. Rich's work has received the A+ for Breaking the Mold Award from the US Department of Education and recognition from the MacArthur Foundation.  Her work has been tested and found effective in raising student achievement, decreasing discipline problems, increasing homework time and decreasing TV time.  She has been featured in the Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, NBC Today, Education Week, Good Morning America and Reader's Digest.

Dr. Rich has served on the National Assessment Governing Board, created mentor programs for the National Education Association, developed Seminars by Satellite for the NTN Network, designed grant award programs, received the Washingtonian of the Year Award, created the plan for Learning City, developed the School and Family/Community Involvement Master's Degree Programs at Trinity College and Catholic University, receiving the Alumni Medal for her work.

Among Dr. Rich's books are MegaSkills: Building Children's Achievement for the Information Age (Houghton Mifflin) and What Do We Say? What Do We Do? (Tor).

She speaks and writes about education issues across the nation and extending MegaSkills Programs internationally.