Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > December > 19 > Entry
Does this guy influence your eduthinking?
Checker Finn
Education Week’s latest issue has a long look back at the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation and native Daytonian Checker Finn, who 10 years ago reshaped a local charity into a national powerhouse promoting choice and standards in education.
With the anniversary approaching, Fordham ordered up a couple of reports — a narrative written by a freelance journalist on the group’s most recent decade in education and a separate report from Education Week’s research arm looking and what people and groups are most influential in education. Ed Week’s story about Fordham was separate from the other two reports.
As for the influence rankings, Finn and Fordham unsurprisingly make both lists.
I’d love to hear you thoughts on who should, or shouldn’t, have made the list or how you would have ranked them. EdWeek apparently doesn’t have its Fordham stories (the package includes profiles of some of the Dayton charter schools Fordham now sponsors) online. It does have a story on the influential people and groups, but it might require a subscription to read.
Here’s the ranking for most influential people:
Philanthopist Bill Gates
President George W. Bush
Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust
G. Reid Lyon, education researcher
Senator Edward Kennedy
Former President Bill Clinton
(tie) Richard W. Riley, Clinton’s Secretary of Education
(tie) James B. Hunt Jr., former North Carolina governor
Marshall (Mike) Smith, education director for the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
(tie) Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford University education researcher
(tie) U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
Rep. George Miller, D-California, chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee
Chester E. Finn, Jr., executive director of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation
Here’s the most influential education groups:
U.S. Congress
U.S. Department of Education
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Education Trust
National Governors Association
American Federation of Teachers
(tie) Achieve, Inc.
(tie) National Education Association
Thomas B. Fordham Foundation
Center on Education Policy
The most influential education sources:
National Assessment of Education Progress (The Nation’s Report Card exam)
Education Week
National Center for Education Statistics
New York Times
U.S. Department of Education
Education Trust
Washington Post
(tie) Education Next education journal (a Fordham Foundation publication)
(tie) Public Education Network Weekly Newsblast
Education Gadfly (a blog-like weekly report from Fordham)
Eduwonk (Andrew Rotherham’s blog)
My own quick take:
—I think Gates is the right person for the top of the influential people list. He is throwing an incredible amount of money around (with lots more to come) and that has shaped education in big and little ways. Taking Checker and his Dayton ties out of the list, Gates is the one other person on the list who has had tremendous direct influence on the streets here locally. Dayton has developed small charter-like schools in the Gates model (DECA for example) and used the small schools approach as a blueprint for its new high school designs.
Although if you equate Bush with NCLB, it’s hard not to make him No. 1 as that law affected every single school in the country like no law before it.
Assuming this list is supposed to represent the most influential people in education today (and not of the last two decades or something), I’d have dropped Clinton, Riley and Hunt down the list and moved Darling-Hammond, Miller and Finn up. Also, if Rotherham’s blog is among the most influential information sources, I’d consider that and his work with Education Sector probably enough to get him on the influential people list.
I might be tempted to put someone involved in the state education systems of California, Texas and New York on the list, too. Those states have enormous influence on the national education scene. I also wondered about Jeb Bush, who certainly had influence with Florida’s significant reform efforts. From Ohio, I’d have considered charter school mogul David Brennan, House Speaker Jon Husted and the late Tom Mooney from the OFT.
—The organization list is pretty strong. I’m tempted to move Gates up, but its probably correct to put the foundation behind Congress and the Dept. of Ed. It’s interesting (and correct) that the smaller American Federation of Teachers is considered more influential than it’s much bigger cousin, the National Education Association.
—The information source list needs help. The New York Times and Education Week should be 1-2. I’d put the Washington Post a little higher and NAEP, a national test, seems a weird choice for this list, but the data from the exam is used for lots of research. It was interesting (and I’m not sure it’s correct) that a blog (eduwonk) and a pseudo blog (Gadfly) also make the list.
Alexander Russo has a different take on the lists here.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Charter Schools and School Choice, Schools and Politics
Comments
By Oldprof
December 21, 2006 10:15 AM | Link to this
Shucks, Ryan, I prefer the descriptor “tangy curmudgeon.” As for your holiday list, a couple of good books might be fitting, specifically on inferential statistics and rational thinking.By Scott Elliott
December 20, 2006 12:46 PM | Link to this
FYI — Formally, it’s Chester E. Finn, Jr. But everyone knows him by his nickname, Checker. The name comes from his father who came to be called “Check” Finn in the Navy, if I recall correctly. Thus junior was called “Checker.” The name stuck and that’s what he goes by.By John Waggoner
December 20, 2006 10:38 AM | Link to this
CHESTER FinnBy Terry Ryan
December 20, 2006 10:33 AM | Link to this
Oldprof comes across as a bitter grouch and should receive a lump of coal for Christmas!By Dave
December 20, 2006 10:15 AM | Link to this
Any list of “greatest flubs in education” MUST include the textbook selection committee in Austin. Textbooks have deteriorated significantly in quality over the past 40 years, and they are the single most important reason.By Mary
December 20, 2006 6:50 AM | Link to this
It is interesting to think about the juxtaposition of education influence and money. I do not think Gates is a major influence just because of his money, although his money likely helps command an audience. I think he and others on the list have a passion for the topic because they have observed the importance of education on their own and others’ lives. I am grateful for them using their power and influence to stir the pot, question the status quo, and generate alternatives to the current system.By Eric
December 20, 2006 12:57 AM | Link to this
Well, here’s a problem: no court or funding decision was influential. Implication: there is no tie between constitutional mandates and influential policy. Now, let’s give out grades. Ohio Supreme Court gets an A. David Matthews (Ket Fdn): A. Dr. Zelman: B (nearly what the court wants, but lax oversight). What about the “influential” list: Darling-Hammond: B for good work in CFE v New York; Achieve: B for American Diploma Project; WaPo: B for Jay Matthews; Most everyone else: C’s D’s and F’s. Are these the folks Marc Tucker at NCEE thinks should run the national school system?By Oldprof
December 19, 2006 7:28 PM | Link to this
Well, I guess we can create a “greatest flubs in education” list and it would read the same, eh? Time for most of these wankers to shut up and let someone else wield a little influence, it couldn’t be less successful.