Education as a Presidential Issue: Historically and in 2008

Fifty years ago, the National Defense Education Act—America’s response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik—was the first serious federal foray into K-12 education. Forty years ago, LBJ injected the federal government into education through the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Twenty years ago, the report A Nation at Risk put schools back in the national spotlight. Today, however, despite mounting anxiety about American economic competitiveness and the pending reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, discussions about education are all but absent from the presidential race. Why? How will the results of the 2008 presidential race affect education? What education issues might influence the election?

At this event, Chester E. Finn Jr., author of the recent book Troublemaker: A Personal History of School Reform Since Sputnik (Princeton University Press, 2008); Marc Lampkin, of ED in ’08; and William Galston of the Brookings Institution will discuss education as a presidential election issue. AEI director of education policy studies Frederick M. Hess 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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