Name Frederick Hess Role Author | Books Cage-Busting Leadership | |
 | ||
Frederick m hess the same thing over and over
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.
Contents
- Frederick m hess the same thing over and over
- Conncan first person interview frederick m hess
- Education and early career
- Current work and the American Enterprise Institute
- Books
- Edited volumes
- References
Conncan first person interview frederick m hess
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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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, Congressman John Kline (R-MN) on the Republican vision to fix the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), and former Washington, DC, Chancellor and current StudentsFirst CEO Michelle Rhee on how education leaders can transform failing schools. Hess has also led major conferences on the Common Core State Standards Initiative, civic education, the federal role in education, and school funding.
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.
Hess is also the author of the Education Week blog Rick Hess Straight Up.
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.
Books
Edited volumes
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; Diplomas and Dropouts: Which Colleges Actually Graduate Their Students (and Which Don’t); 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.