Eileen Murphy is the author of “360 Degrees of Text” (NCTE, 2011), a book on close reading and powerful writing, the skills featured in the Common Core State Standards. She was the founding English Department Chair at Walter Payton College Prep, one of the country’s highest performing high schools, and a district leader in Chicago Public Schools. As the Director of Curriculum and Instruction for over 100 of Chicago’s highest performing schools, she became passionate about the role technology could play in education in the 21st century. She is currently collaborating as an advisor with Intrinsic Schools, a blended-school design team that will launch the first of a network of new schools in August 2013 in Chicago. Eileen has been collaborating with teachers, administrators, and scholars across the country to bring a new level of rigor and engagement to blended learning in the era of CCSS. She also speaks throughout the country on CCSS, differentiating for growth, and professional collaboration around close reading and evidence-based argumentation.