Michael "Chappie" Grice is a teacher, administrator, coach, mentor, researcher, college instructor, entrepreneur, arts advocate, and documentary filmmaker. He has worked more than 36 years in public education. He holds a B.A. from Cornell College (Iowa), M.A.T. from Reed College (Oregon), and has completed all coursework for the Ed.D. at the University of Oregon.

Mr. Grice recently retired as Supervisor for Leadership Development in the San Francisco Unified School District. He served as Director for I.R.I.S.E. (Infusing Responsibilities for Intellectual and Scholastic Excellence) for six years prior to broadening the initiative to serve all San Francisco schools. His more recently evolved "Cure for the Common Classroom" accelerates student achievement through well-researched professional development for teachers and administrators that nurtures "character" in students and "community" in the classroom. This "Cure..." combines powerfully with guru Mike Rutherford's "Learning Centered Schools" model that cultivates "teacher efficacy." Mr. Grice has held faculty appointments at San Francisco State University instructing graduate students aspiring to secure their California teaching credential. He currently directs "Parent Education" for the Little Children's Developmental Center in San Francisco and writes intervention strategies for families of school age children.

Mr. Grice is a highly regarded lecturer and has presented workshops and keynote addresses at national conferences for the National Education Association (2004), National Alliance of Black School Educators, Council of Great City Schools, National School Boards Association, National Coalition of Title I/Chapter I Parents and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). He regularly consults with public and independent schools on teacher efficacy, school reform, leadership development, special education, applied mathematics, and literacy intervention strategies for urban schools.

He also recruits junior-high school students from San Francisco, Oakland and Portland schools for a summer college preparatory seminar: Math Science and Engineering Academy on the campus Ft. Valley State University - in Georgia. He has designed and conducted national research and evaluation on achievement motivation, literacy interventions, cognitive development, youth mentoring, and Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE).

In 1989, he served as the local conference chair for the annual convention of the National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE). From 1994-1998, Mr. Grice served as president of the National Council on Educating Black Children, and was a chief architect on the revised edition of the nationally recognized school-reform planning tool, "A Blueprint for Action." He was selected for the 1994 and 1995 editions of Who’s Who in American Education, and was nominated for the Third Edition of International Who’s Who of Contemporary Achievement.

Mr. Grice is a Life Member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and active on local and national boards including, Outward Bound - San Francisco Council, Texas Southern University - CPAL Program, Thad Brown Academy (San Francisco); is a former commissioner for the Oregon Arts Commission and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. For the past twenty years he has co-produced and directed the annual gospel and talent showcase: "Keep Alive the Dream: A Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." via a non-profit community arts organization in Portland, Oregon.

His belief in the achievement potential of young people drives his commitment to collaborate with parents and families, schools, diverse leaders, public agencies and service organizations in order to build stronger communities through education.