Contributor
Chester E. Finn, Jr., President, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Related Link:
http://www.edexcellence.net/flypaper/
Biography provided by participant
Chester E. Finn, Jr., scholar, educator and public servant, has devoted his career to improving education in the United States. As Senior Fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution and chairman of Hoover's Koret Task Force on K-12 Education, President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, and Senior Editor of Education Next, his primary focus is the reform of primary and secondary schooling.
Finn is also an Adjunct Fellow at the Hudson Institute, where he worked from 1995 through 1998. From 1999 until 2002, he was John M. Olin Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. In 1992-1994, he served as founding partner and senior scholar with the Edison Project. He was Professor of Education and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University from 1981 until 2002. From 1985 to 1988, he served as Assistant Secretary for Research and Improvement & Counselor to the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education. Earlier positions include Staff Assistant to the President of the United States; Special Assistant to the Governor of Massachusetts; Counsel to the U.S. Ambassador to India; Research Associate at the Brookings Institution; and Legislative Director for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Author of 16 books, Finn's latest is Troublemaker: A Personal History of School Reform Since Sputnik. Other recent books include No Remedy Left Behind, co-edited with Frederick M. Hess; Leaving No Child Behind: Options for Kids in Failing Schools, also co-edited with Hess; Charter Schools in Action: Renewing Public Education, co-authored with Bruno V. Manno and Gregg Vanourek; and The Educated Child: A Parent's Guide from Pre-School Through Eighth Grade, co-authored with William J. Bennett and John Cribb.
A native of Ohio, he holds an undergraduate degree in U.S. history, a master's degree in social studies teaching, and a doctorate in education policy, all from Harvard University.
Finn serves on a number of boards including the National Council on Teacher Quality and the Philanthropy Roundtable. He also represents the Fordham Institute on the United States National Commission for UNESCO. From 1988-96, he served on the National Assessment Governing Board, including two years as its chair. In 2004-5, he served on the Governor's Commission on Quality Education in Maryland.
Finn has received awards for his work from the Educational Press Association of America, Choice magazine, the Education Writers Association, and the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. He holds an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Colgate University.
Recent Responses
November 3, 2009 08:29 AM
Andy Smarick is right, unfortunately. School "turnarounds" rarely succeed, and they're least apt to succeed when, as the Education Department (and NCLB) seem to expect, they're undertaken by the very school systems that allowed these same schools to fester to the point that they need a radical makeover. Starting from scratch is a lot more promising. (That can include closing a bad school and starting from scratch within the same building--but with everything else different, especially the instructional team.) But of course that's what school systems are least likely to do. Even more troubling is the ED assumption that turning a…
Read moreSeptember 21, 2009 09:20 PM
Marguerite Kondracke has it about right but I'd say it more bluntly and simply: young people who are succeeding in school rarely drop out. Kindergarten is not too early to address the dropout problem--by ensuring that those who make their way to first grade are prepared to succeed there. Now repeat that a dozen times. This means all the obvious: great teachers; lively and well crafted curricula; interesting and content-filled classes; the right blend of standards, assessments, interventions, help and results-based accountability; counseling; parent engagement; other good school choices. And, of course , the prospect of suitable reward (e.g. graduation, college)…
Read moreSeptember 14, 2009 09:36 AM
It's important also to pay attention to what NOT to do, as some of the most obvious "remedies" are worse than the disease. One could, for example, improve the college completion rate by being a lot more selective in admissions, such as admitting to college only the one-quarter of ACT test takers that ACT says are actually ready to succeed at college-level academic work. That would, however, cut down a whole lot on college opportunity. At the opposite extreme, one could improve the graduation rate by slashing academic standards, in effect offering "automatic degrees" to everyone who is admitted. That would, however, radically…
Read moreSeptember 8, 2009 03:00 PM
I've little to add to what Andy, Sandy and Diane have written. There's nothing new about 21st Century skills. Those qualities of mind, behavior, temperament and interaction have long been in demand and good schools and teachers have long helped youngsters to acquire them-- in addition to core knowledge and basic skills. Where I fault the P-21 folks is in deflecting attention from the latter to the former and ignoring the painful tradeoffs inherent in a 6 hour school day. I also note that, while traditional knowledge and basic skills are relatively easy to assess (and thus to hold schools…
Read moreSeptember 1, 2009 10:04 PM
I sought help this week from Andy Smarick, former White House Fellow and Deputy Ass't Secretary of Education in the last administration, who has been doing some useful analysis and thinking on this very topic (some of which will soon appear in Education Next). In addition to Andy's observations, inserted below, you may also want to have a look at Ron Brady's Fordham paper on this very topic a few years back. http://www.edexcellence.net/detail/news.cfm?news_id=2&id= Perhaps we've come a long way since then but I have to admit I haven't seen much evidence of it. Now take it away, Andy : Every healthy field, profession, and industry…
Read moreAugust 26, 2009 10:52 AM
More than anyone else who comes to mind in American public life, Edward M. Kennedy ascended from reprobate to icon, from an object of criticism, even ridicule, to statesman. He made many lasting marks on our policies and politics and just about everyone came to admire and like him. Generations of devoted and able staffers. Fellow Senators and Presidents of both parties. (This list could be extended for miles.) Many tributes and accolades will pour forth in the hours to come. I simply want to recall one episode from 1988. He was a veteran Senator, a powerhouse in education policy (and many other fields), and pretty much in…
Read moreAugust 24, 2009 09:40 AM
In its current form, NCLB is practically irrelevant to college readiness. Its mandates and sanctions pretty much quit in 8th grade, and efforts by the GWB/Spellings team to extend it to high school got nowhere on Capitol Hill. The Obama team hasn't yet signaled its intentions in this regard--but they ARE obviously backing the "common core" standards project underway with the governors and chiefs, and that venture is plainly devoted to building high-school exit standards that are aligned with college readiness. Of course, it is doing so only in reading/writing and math, whereas the ACT--quite legitimately--also regards science and English (including literature, not…
Read moreAugust 18, 2009 07:47 AM
Lisa Keegan precisely describes the problem with Headstart, the solving of which should be the Obama administration's (and the Congress's) top early-childschool priority. (If you want more on this, read the Headstart chapter in my book, "Reroute the Preschool Juggernaut.") Congressman Kline makes some excellent points, too, and Sara Mead is spot on when it comes to aligning pre-school with K-12, particularly as regards academic standards and performance. It's absolutely sound to try to reformat pre-schooling in America into a "standards-based, outcome-driven" undertaking with a laser-like focus on preparing for success in school those children who need help in that…
Read moreJuly 6, 2009 08:53 AM
The early birds on this blog already said it: there's no single, uniform structural/governance solution to the problems of urban education. It's a sad fact that most elected big-city (and, for that matter, small-city) school boards don't work very well--and some are bloomin' disasters. It's also a fact that half a dozen cities have indeed benefited from mayoral control. But I could take you to a lot of cities--we might start in Ohio--where the current crop of mayors are neither interested in nor competent to run the schools. Conceivably, making them responsible for public education would eventually cause people to get elected…
Read moreJune 29, 2009 01:38 PM
I feel as if contributors are being asked to opine on whether the sun should rise and set tomorrow. With the possible exception of Arne Duncan and the members of Congress on this contributor list, nothing we say is going to have much impact on the answer to this question! The uses of most of the "stimulus" money--better termed "bail out" money--are fixed in statute, in existing programs and formulae through which those dollars flow, and in state and local budget difficulties that they are meant to palliate. Like Andy Rotherham, I don't think this is a particularly inspired or strategic use of federal…
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This Education Blog is funded by support provided, in part, by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the purpose of creating an educational forum for sharing research, ideas and opinions regarding issues related to college readiness and college completion. The Blog may not be used to post partisan political statements supporting or opposing candidates for public office. All statements and materials posted on the Blog, including any statements regarding specific legislation, reflect the views of the individual contributors and do not reflect the views of National Journal or the Bill& Melinda Gates Foundation. National Journal and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation take no positions regarding any legislation discussed in the Blog. National Journal reserves the right to monitor material placed on this site and to remove any posting they may deem inappropriate.
