Welcome and Plenary Address: The Future of the AP Program

John Moscatiello is the founder of Marco Learning. He has been a teacher, tutor, and author since 2002. Over the course of his career, John has taught more than 4,000 students, trained hundreds of teachers, written content for 13 test preparation books, and worked as an educational consultant in more than 20 countries around the world.

Akil Bello is an educator, speaker, entrepreneur, and nationally renowned expert at teaching people how to distinguish between A, B, C and D. Going on his third decade in the shadow education industry, he has developed dozens of admissions and test preparation programs, trained hundreds of teachers, and helped thousands of students prepare for standardized tests from the APGAR to the LSAT.

Described as a refreshing mix of brilliance and foolishness, Akil is a public intellectual who combines deep research with a sardonic wit to inform the public about issues of testing, equity, and educational access. He’s been featured in national newspapers, at conference keynotes, in front of the movie camera, on the computer screen, and even on your mobile phone, where his legendary Twitter pseudonyms and hatereads have earned him thousands of followers (or bots).

After selling Bell Curves, a socially responsible test preparation company he founded with his brother, Akil served as the Director of Equity and Access for The Princeton Review, where he continued to work to increase access to education for disadvantaged communities. In his current full-time job as Senior Director of Advocacy and Advancement at Fairtest, Akil works to end his more lucrative part-time job as a highly paid test prep tutor. Akil lives in the birthplace of hip-hop with his wife, two sons, and internet daughter, Enid. Akil graduated with a degree in Architecture from THE Hillman College.