As the national conversation over education resurfaces during National School Choice Week, the education team at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has released a number of products that hit on the key points of the current education debate:
In a just-published Education Outlook, AEI director of education policy studies Rick Hess (author of the forthcoming “Cage-Busting Leadership”) and research fellow Andrew Kelly examine What the federal government can (and cannot) do to improve K-12 schooling:
“While the federal government can force states and districts to do things, the strictures of federalism, the limits of federal institutions, and the messiness of the lawmaking process greatly restrict federal policymakers’ ability to ensure that these things are done well.”
In the policy brief Charter Schools as nation builders: Democracy Prep and civic education, research fellow Andrew Kelly and Daniel Lautzenheiser provide an in-depth case study on a top-performing charter school that has incorporated civic learning in their school curriculum and school culture:
“What makes Democracy Prep schools unique is that they prioritize closing the civic gap with the same force as closing the traditional student achievement gaps in reading and math.”
In a just-published op-ed, research fellow Michael McShane reflects on his experience as a teacher and why school choice is “a means for transforming the American education system”:
“Choice is no panacea to the ills of public education. Granting every child in America a voucher or a tuition tax credit scholarship tomorrow would not immediately solve all of the problems of the American public education system. What choice does is establish the conditions under which change can happen.”
AEI education experts are available to discuss the pressing issues in education and policy recommendations to improve our schools based on their scholarship and personal experiences in the field– please contact a media services representative listed below.
An educator, political scientist and author, Frederick M. Hess studies K-12 and higher education issues. His books include "Cage-Busting Leadership," "The Same Thing Over and Over," "Education Unbound," "Common Sense School Reform," "Revolution at the Margins," and "Spinning Wheels." He is also the author of the popular Education Week blog, "Rick Hess Straight Up." Hess's 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, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Phi Delta Kappan, Educational Leadership, U.S. News & World Report, National Affairs, the Washington Post, the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic and National Review. He has edited widely cited volumes on education philanthropy, school costs and productivity, the impact of education research, and No Child Left Behind. Hess serves as executive editor of Education Next, as lead faculty member for the Rice Education Entrepreneurship Program, and on the review boards for the Broad Prize in Urban Education and the Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools. He also serves 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, as well as an M.Ed. in Teaching and Curriculum, from Harvard University.
- Email: rhess@aei.org
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Assistant Info
Name: Max Eden
Phone: 202-862-5933
Email: max.eden@aei.org
Andrew P. Kelly is a resident scholar in education policy studies at AEI. His research focuses on higher education policy, innovation, financial aid reform, and the politics of education policy. Previously, he was a research assistant at AEI, where his work focused on the preparation of school leaders, collective bargaining in public schools, and the politics of education. His research has appeared in the American Journal of Education, Teachers College Record, Educational Policy, Policy Studies Journal, and Education Next, as well as popular outlets such as Education Week, Inside Higher Education, Forbes, The Atlantic, National Affairs, The Weekly Standard, and The Huffington Post. He is co-editor of "Getting to Graduation: The Completion Agenda in Higher Education" (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012), "Carrots, Sticks, and the Bully Pulpit: Lessons from A Half-Century of Federal Efforts to Improve America's Schools" (Harvard Education Press, 2011), and "Reinventing Higher Education: The Promise of Innovation" (Harvard Education Press, 2011). In 2011, Mr. Kelly was named one of 16 "Next Generation Leaders" in education policy by the "Policy Notebook" blog on Education Week.
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Phone: 202-419-5209
Email: andrew.kelly@aei.org -
Assistant Info
Name: KC Deane
Phone: 202-862-5902
Email: KC.Deane@aei.org
Michael Q. McShane is a research fellow in education policy studies at AEI. While obtaining a master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame's Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) program, he taught ninth and tenth grade English and religion studies at St. Jude Educational Institute in Montgomery, Alabama where he was also the assistant baseball coach. His first book, "President Obama and Education Reform: The Personal and the Political" (co-authored with Robert Maranto), was published by Palgrave Macmillan in September 2012. At AEI, McShane will be working on federal education policy, and the politics of education reform (including school choice, and Common Core standards).
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Phone: 202-862-5838
Email: Michael.McShane@aei.org
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