No Child Left Behind
Mend It, End It, or Let It Work?

As the campaign season heats up, education and the virtues and frailties of the No Child Left Behind Act have become important election topics.

Frederick M. Hess, director of education policy studies at AEI, and Chester E. Finn Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, present their latest analysis of the No Child Left Behind program. "On Leaving No Child Behind," their candid assessment of the law's track record up to now, will be published in the Fall 2004 edition of The Public Interest. Joel Packer of the National Education Association, Michael Petrilli of the U.S. Department of Education, and Ross Wiener of the Education Trust join the authors to discuss NCLB's relevance for the fall election, whether this landmark legislation should be amended, and what shape such revision might take.

Hess and Finn are also coeditors of Leaving No Child Behind? Options for Kids in Failing Schools (Palgrave Macmillan, September 2004). This book provides an in-depth look at the provisions of the NCLB law which deal with public school choice and supplemental services.

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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