State Education Agencies as Agents of Change

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Please note this event is taking place at the Center for American Progress.


With recent state and federal legislation promoting school reform, the role of state education agencies has grown, yet the agencies are still shrouded in mystery. How many people do they employ? How big are their budgets? Little is known about the makeup of these agencies, and even less is known about their leaders. What obstacles do they face? How do successful chiefs push aggressively for change and what resources do they need? What role can policymakers, foundations, and other reformers play?

Join us for a discussion tackling these mounting questions, as former and current chiefs will share firsthand knowledge of the limitations facing state education agencies and steps they have taken to overcome these challenges. The Center for American Progress in partnership with AEI will release a report with perhaps the most extensive examination of state education agencies since the mid-1990s, featuring excerpts from in-depth interviews with thirteen former or current agency chiefs from around the country.
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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