Speaker biographies

Frederick M. Hess is a resident scholar and director of education policy studies at AEI and executive editor of Education Next. His many books include When Research Matters (Harvard Education Press 2008), No Remedy Left Behind (AEI Press 2007), Tough Love for Schools (AEI Press 2006), Common Sense School Reform (Palgrave Macmillan 2004), and Spinning Wheels (Brookings Institution 1999). His work has appeared in both popular and scholarly outlets including Social Science Quarterly, American Politics Quarterly, Education Week, Phi Delta Kappan, the Washington Post, and National Review. Mr. Hess serves on the review board for the Broad Prize in Urban Education, as a research associate with the Harvard University Program on Education Policy and Governance, and as a member of the research advisory board for the National Center for Educational Accountability. He is a former high school social studies teacher and professor at the University of Virginia.

Michelle Rhee is chancellor of the District of Columbia Public Schools, a position to which she was appointed by Mayor Adrian Fenty in June 2007. As chancellor, Ms. Rhee leads the district’s 50,000 students and 144 schools. She was most recently president and CEO of The New Teacher Project (TNTP), a nonprofit organization that partners with school districts, state departments of education, and other educational entities to enhance their capacities to recruit, train, and support outstanding new teachers for difficult-to-staff schools. Under her leadership, TNTP grew into a national organization that has recruited more than 23,000 new teachers for public schools across the country. Her career in education began in 1992 as a Teach For America corps member in Baltimore. She currently serves on the advisory boards for the National Council on Teacher Quality, the National Center for Alternative Certification, and Project REACH at the University of Phoenix School of Education.

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