Background and biography

Thom Markham, Ph.D., is a native Californian with 30 years experience in training, education, and human performance.  For the past 20 years, he has been active in developing exemplary educational projects both nationally and globally. He has served as a Director with Active Learning, Inc., an innovative motivational and learning skills camp program for high school and college students. For seven years, he taught at an award-winning high school, where he led school reform efforts and developed highly-acclaimed academy and internship-based programs. In fall, 2003, Thom founded the Marin School of Arts and Technology, an innovative charter high school in Novato, California. From 2002 through 2006, Thom served as Associate Director for Strategic Initiatives for the Buck Institute for Education, where he led BIE efforts to establish global training programs in project based learning and youth development. He is the principal author of BIE’s Project Based Learning Handbook, now in its third printing with nearly 20,000 copies sold in over 50 countries.

Thom has worked closely with a variety of educational organizations, including: the National High School Alliance; Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation; school management organizations such as High Tech High, New Technology Foundation, Envision Schools, and EdVisions; the U.S. Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education; WestEd; North Carolina New Schools Project; Career Academy Support Network; California Tech-Prep Consortium; Oracle Educational Foundation; George Lucas Educational Foundation; and international organizations such as iEARN and the Academy for Educational Development.

Thom has conducted workshops for over 2000 teachers in the U.S. and abroad, and presented to audiences at conferences sponsored by leading organizations such as: Co-Nect; Modern Red Schoolhouse; Association for Supervision, Curriculum and Development; Kean University; California Association of Charter Schools; National Academy Foundation; International Conference on Problem Based Learning; International Conference on Multiple intelligences, Problem Solving and Creativity; Ministry of Education, Malaysia; and Ministry of Education, and the Kingdom of Jordan.

Thom holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center. His interest in education is accompanied by a strong focus on the mental and emotional health of students, including research in psychophysiology, stress management, and peak performance. In that capacity, he is a licensed instructor for the Resilient Educators program of the Institute of HeartMath. He received his undergraduate degree in Zoology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master's Degree in Political Science from UCLA. He also holds a Certificate in Teaching English as a Second Language from Sonoma State University.