Frederick M. Hess

Frederick M. Hess (born 1968) is an American educator, political scientist, and author. He is resident scholar and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a position he has held since 2002. 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.

Education and early career

Hess earned a B.A. in political science from Brandeis University and an M. Ed. in teaching and curriculum from Harvard University. He started his career as a high school social studies teacher in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but soon grew frustrated. In his view, school district dysfunction stymied well-intentioned teachers and leaders, and as new reform efforts piled upon old ones, nothing seemed to change in failing schools.^[1][2] He returned to Harvard for a Ph.D. in government, where he wrote a dissertation examining the "spinning wheels" of education reform in 57 school districts.

Hess joined the faculty at the University of Virginia in 1997, teaching as an assistant professor of education and politics until 2002.^[3] In that year, he published a controversial paper, entitled "Tear Down This Wall," arguing for a "radical overhaul of teacher certification" in order to create competition for teaching positions and to help troubled districts fill their staffing gaps with qualified teachers.^[4] In an interview with Harvard Ed Magazine, Hess remarked that fallout from his paper was one of the reasons for his departure from the University of Virginia in 2002.^[5] But as former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education Chester Finn explained, the paper enhanced his reputation as an "education renegade and gadfly" and helped position Hess at the forefront of the education reform movement.^[6]

Current work and the American Enterprise Institute

In 2002, Hess became a resident scholar and the founding director of the education policy studies program at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a nonpartisan public policy think tank in Washington, DC.

While at AEI, Hess has hosted public events with policymakers to discuss their visions for reforming American education. Notable speakers have included US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on cost-efficiency in K-12 schools,^[7] Congressman John Kline (R-MN) on the Republican vision to fix the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB),^[8] and former Washington, DC, Chancellor and current StudentsFirst CEO Michelle Rhee on how education leaders can transform failing schools.^[9] Hess has also led major conferences on the Common Core State Standards Initiative,^[10] civic education,^[11] the federal role in education,^[12] and school funding.^[13]

In addition to long-term research projects and publications, Hess has authored pieces for scholarly and popular outlets such as Teachers College Record, Harvard Education Review, 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.^[3]

Hess is also the author of the Education Week blog Rick Hess Straight Up.^[14]

Hess serves as the executive editor of Education Next, a quarterly journal devoted to issues of education reform, and also serves on the board of 4.0 Schools, an education startup incubator.

Select publications

Books

• The Cage-Busting Teacher (2015)
• Cage-Busting Leadership (2013)
• The Same Thing Over and Over: How School Reformers Get Stuck in Yesterday’s Ideas (2010)
• Education Unbound: The Promise and Practice of Greenfield Schooling (2010)
• No Child Left Behind (with Michael J. Petrilli, 2007)
• Common Sense School Reform (2006)
• Tough Love for Schools: Essays on Competition, Accountability, and Excellence (2006)
• Revolution at the Margins: The Impact of Competition on Urban School Systems (2002)
• Spinning Wheels: The Politics of Urban School Reform (1998)

Edited volumes

• The New Education Philanthropy: Politics, Policy, and Reform (2015)
• Teacher Quality 2.0 (2014)
• Common Core Meets Education Reform (2013)
• The Futures of School Reform (2012)
• Making Civics Count: Citizenship Education for a New Generation (2012)
• Carrots, Sticks, and the Bully Pulpit: Lessons from a Half-Century of Federal Efforts to Improve America’s Schools (2012)
• Customized Schooling: Beyond Whole-School Reform (2011)
• Stretching the School Dollar: How Schools and Districts Can Save Money While Serving Students Best (2010)
• What Next?: Educational Innovation and Philadelphia’s School of the Future (2010)
• The Politically Correct University: Problems, Scope, and Reforms (2009)
• The Future of Educational Entrepreneurship: Possibilities for School Reform (2008)
• When Research Matters: How Scholarship Influences Education Policy (2008)
• No Remedy Left Behind: Lessons from a Half-Decade of NCLB (2007)
• Footing the Tuition Bill: The New Student Loan Sector (2007)
• Educational Entrepreneurship: Realities, Challenges, Possibilities (2006)
• Urban School Reform: Lessons from San Diego (2005)
• With the Best of Intentions: How Philanthropy is Reshaping K-12 Education (2005)
• A Qualified Teacher in Every Classroom? Appraising Old Answers and New Ideas (2004)
• School Choice in the Real World: Lessons from Arizona Charter Schools (2001)
• Leaving No Child Behind?: Options for Kids in Failing Schools (2004)

In addition to books and edited volumes, Hess has published a number of scholarly research reports. These include Learning to Lead: What Gets Taught in Principal Preparation Programs;^[15] Diplomas and Dropouts: Which Colleges Actually Graduate Their Students (and Which Don’t);^[16] and three iterations of the Leaders and Laggards series (on K-12 performance, K-12 innovation, and higher education), all published by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.^[17]

References

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN