Author

Frederick Hess

    Author Website: http://www.aei.org/scholar/30


    Author Bio:
    Frederick Hess, AEI's director of education policy studies, is an educator, political scientist, author, and popular speaker and commentator. He has authored such influential books as Spinning Wheels, Revolution at the Margins, and Common Sense School Reform. A former public high school social studies teacher, he has also taught education and policy at universities including Georgetown, Harvard, Rice, the University of Virginia, and the University of Pennsylvania. He is executive editor of Education Next, a faculty associate with Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance, and serves on the board of directors for the National Association of Charter School Authorizers and on the review board for the Broad Prize in Urban Education. At AEI, Mr. Hess addresses a range of K-12 and higher education issues.


Articles

The Accidental Principal

What doesn’t get taught at ed schools?

Summer 2005 / Vol. 5, No. 3


Few States Set World-Class Standards

In fact, most render the notion of proficiency meaningless

Summer 2008 / Vol. 8, No. 3


How to Get the Teachers We Want

Specialization would lead to better teaching and higher salaries

Summer 2009 / Vol. 9, No. 3


The Accreditation Game

The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (known broadly as NCATE, pronounced “en kate”) was launched in 1954 by a coalition of professional organizations from across the education community. Previously, teacher-training programs had been accredited by states, regional accrediting bodies, or an association of teacher colleges, each equipped with its own benchmarks and methods [...]

Fall 2002 / Vol. 2, No. 3


Crash Course

NCLB is driven by education politics

Fall 2007 / Vol. 7, No. 4


What Innovators Can, and Cannot, Do

Squeezing into local markets and cutting deals

Spring 2007 / Vol. 7, No. 2


The Work Ahead

What if Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computer, and Michael Armstrong, CEO of AT&T, operated in a market where revenues depended hardly at all on attracting or losing customers? What if competition exerted minimal pressure and if market threats could often be trumped by successful efforts to glean government subsidies? What if they had only [...]

Winter 2001 / Vol. 1, No. 4


Lifting the Barrier

Eliminating the state-mandated licensre of principles and superintendents is the first step in recruiting and training a generation of leaders capable of transforming America’s schools

Fall 2003 / Vol. 3, No. 4


Technical Difficulties

Information technology could help schools do more with less. If only educators knew how to use it

Fall 2004 / Vol. 4, No. 4


Johnny Can Read…in Some States

Johnny can’t read … in South Carolina. But if his folks move to Texas, he’ll be reading up a storm. What’s going on?
It turns out that in complying with the requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), some states have decided to be a whole lot more generous than others in determining whether students are [...]

Summer 2005 / Vol. 5, No. 3


Strike Phobia

School boards need to drive a harder bargain

Summer 2006 / Vol. 6, No. 3


Keeping an Eye on State Standards

A race to the bottom?

Summer 2006 / Vol. 6, No. 3


Blog Posts/Multimedia

Racing to the Jargon: Finalist’s Edition

Whereas greenfield-style measures tend to be cut-and-dry–states either did or did not enact certain legislation–the prescriptive bulk of RTT is about promising to do things. Since this kind of compliance is about plans and intentions rather than actions, it’s harder to demonstrate. The usual result: proving commitment by piling up consultant-provided buzzwords and jargon. And the RTT apps are no exception.

03/05/2010

Go New York

Secretary Duncan has repeatedly told us to watch what he does, not what he says. So, I’m watching, but so far I’m not impressed.

03/04/2010

A Pernicious Parlor Game

So, the announcement of the round one Race to the Top finalists is upon us. In the run-up, a pernicious parlor game in edu-policy circles has been “name the RTT finalists.” Thankfully, it’s about to come to a close. Unfortunately, it’ll be followed by “name the RTT winners.”

03/04/2010

That Darn Constitution

If Congress reauthorizes No Child Left Behind this year and does so “consistent with the President’s plan,” the Obama administration announced this week that it is going to make an extra $1 billion available for edu-spending. The problem with this clever carrot? If you’ll recall your high school civics, it’s the legislative branch that writes the federal budget.

01/29/2010

It Depends on What the Meaning of “Transparency” Is

Yesterday, on his Eduwonk blog, Andy Rotherham weighed in on the brewing controversy over the Race to the Top review process. Rotherham suggests that Duncan try a variation of the “it depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is” defense, explaining, “‘Transparent’ is not synonymous with contemporaneous. In other words, a process can be transparent while it is going on or it can be transparent after the fact.” It’ll be amusing to see whether Duncan tries that defense; somehow, I don’t think it’ll play that well.

01/27/2010

Shhhhh…Duncan’s Secret Edu-Judges

Late last week, Education Week’s Michele McNeil reported that the Obama administration has secretly selected the reviewers for state grant applications to its $4.35 billion Race to the Top (RTT) fund, but has no intention of publicly revealing who these 60 judges are. Whether the department delivered 60 “disinterested superstars,” as Secretary of Education Arne Duncan promised last September, is unclear.

01/26/2010

The WSJ Steps Up on Race to the Top: Scrutinizing the “Selectivity” Standard

For awhile now, there has been some cause for concern that the famously tough-minded Wall Street Journal editorial page seemed to be drinking the Kool-Aid when it came to the much-discussed Race to the Top (RTT) grant program. So, it gives much satisfaction to note that this week’s WSJ featured perhaps the savviest editorial yet penned by any major newspaper on RTT.

01/22/2010

Book Alert: Unlearned Lessons

Testing impresario W. James Popham has penned a volume that mixes anecdote, personal experience, and scholarly analysis to ask why American schooling has had such a terrible time designing, adopting, or employing good assessment.

10/28/2009

Teacher Specialization

Video: Frederick Hess talks with Education Next about reading specialists, den mothers, and teacher pay in the 21st century.

10/18/2009

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