Marianne Marks worked as a middle school science teacher for 36 years in the Newton Public Schools. She coordinated the middle school teacher mentor program and propelled the annual one school one book day by developing curriculum and hosting speakers related to the school read. She feels best about her final two years in the classroom when she made her class a test free zone and assessed her students solely through carefully curated project based criteria. This change translated into a more vital classroom culture with a marked increase in student interest, effort, learning, pleasure, respect and creative thinking. Marianne holds a degree in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from The Harvard Graduate School of Education.