A "Liberal" Education?
The Effects of Ideology in the Classroom

Diversity has been a touchstone of American higher education for three decades. Universities have labored to pursue racial, ethnic, and gender diversity—in the conviction that this will foster open-minded exchanges and free inquiry. However, two recent studies have raised questions about whether this pursuit of diversity has somehow resulted in ideologically uniform, overwhelmingly liberal faculties. At this conference, Anne Neal, president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), and professor Daniel Klein of Santa Clara University will present new research on the partisanship of university faculty and on the effect of their ideologies on learning in the classroom or on campus.

Panelists Roger Bowen, general secretary of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), and David French, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) will join the discussion. Frederick M. Hess, director of education policy studies at AEI, will moderate.

About the Author

 

Frederick M.
Hess



  • An educator, political scientist and author, Frederick M. Hess studies a range of K-12 and higher education issues. He is the author of influential books on education including “The Same Thing Over and Over,” “Education Unbound,” “ Common Sense School Reform,” “ Revolution at the Margins” and “Spinning Wheels,” and he pens the Education Week blog, Rick Hess Straight Up. His work has appeared in scholarly and popular outlets such as Teachers College Record, Harvard Education Review, Social Science Quarterly, Urban Affairs Review, American Politics Quarterly, Chronicle of Higher Education, Phi Delta Kappan, Educational Leadership, U.S. News & World Report, National Affairs, The Washington Post, New York Times, The Atlantic and National Review. He has edited widely cited volumes on education philanthropy, stretching the school dollar, the impact of education research and No Child Left Behind.  He serves as executive editor of Education Next, as lead faculty member for the Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program, on the review boards for the Broad Prize in Urban Education and the Broad Prize for Public School Charters as well as on the boards of directors of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, 4.0 SCHOOLS and the American Board for the Certification of Teaching Excellence. A former high school social studies teacher, he has taught at the University of Virginia, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Rice University and Harvard University. He holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University as well as an M.Ed. in Teaching and Curriculum.


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  • Email: rhess@aei.org
  • Assistant Info

    Name: Lauren Aronson
    Phone: 202-862-5904
    Email: lauren.aronson@aei.org
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