Chester_E._Finn,_Jr.__an_Advocate_for_Educational_Reform

An in-depth analysis of Mr. Finn’s achievements consists of him as a scholar, educator, and public servant. He currently serves as a Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and is president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation also president of its board of trustees. Nevertheless, he has been a professor of Education and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University since 1981. He is a founding partner as well as senior partner in the Edison Project. Furthermore, he has been a former Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education as well as a Research and Improvement Counselor to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. Incidentally, he has been a Staff Assistant to Ronald Reagan, Junior Advisor to Richard Nixon, also Special Assistant to the Governor of Massachusetts but also a former legislative director for Senator Daniel Moynihan, as well as, Counsel to the American Ambassador to India. In any case, he was a Research Associate in Governmental Studies at the Brooking Institution, but also a John M. Olin Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and at the Hudson Institute. Still, he serves on a quite a few boards that are concerned with elementary and middle grades schooling, such as, the Center for Education Reform, the Foundation for Teaching Economics, the Colorado League of Charter Schools, the Center of the American Experiment, K12, Project Achieve, Parents Raising Educational Standards in Schools, the National Council on Teacher Quality, The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, the Philanthropy Roundtable, and Keys to Improving Dayton’s Schools, Inc. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute (2003-2006). Dr. Finn graduated from Harvard University with an under graduate degree in American History, a Master’s Degree in Social Studies and a Doctorate Degree in education on Policy and Administration. He also holds an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from Colgate University. On the other hand, he is a Philanthropist who has produced a huge amount of high quality research studies as well as being directly involved in the reform education in Dayton, Ohio. He has dedicated the majority of his career to enhancing education. As a result he has obtained citations and awards for his labor from the Educational Press Association of America, Choice magazine, the Education Writers Association Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Harvard Business Review, The American Spectator, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times. The Harry Walker Agency, Inc (2005). He is the author of 14 books in addition to more than 350 articles. He co wrote such recent books as Leaving No Child Behind: Options for Kids in failing Schools, Re-thinking Special Education for a New Century, Charter Schools in Action: Renewing Public Education and The Educated Child: A Parent’s Guide From Pre School Through Eighth grade, The New Promise of American Life, Radical Education Reforms, Education Reform in the 90’s,We Must Take Charge: Our Schools and Our Future, and What Do Our 17 year Old Knows. He currently writes weekly columns in the education Gadfly at Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. His articles has been seen in journals such as, The Weekly Standard, The Christian Science Monitor, The Wall Street Journal, The Public Interest, The Washington Post, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Harvard Business Review, The American Spectator, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times just to name a few The Thomas B. Fordham Institute (2003-2006). Dr. Finn is an education policy guru whose educational philosophy is one of the conservative education perspectives. His impact on education is that he has advocated for more than 25 years as a leader of the national debate about school reform. He has advised every President beginning with Richard Nixon on educational reforms. Besides that, a lot of changes he advocates for he has also been involved in to some degree. For example, the Edison project is a private company that was designed to operate public schools on a for profit basis. Pollard (2002), reported that Finn said, “We were paid to brainstorm the perfect school design.” This company started in 1995 and is still operating today. Its curriculum consists of The Success for All reading curriculum, Spanish being taught to all students, computer-based assessments on a monthly basis, and ninety minute of professional development for all teachers every day. This educational management organization requires an eight- hour school day but also an extended school year as well. The company is headquartered on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York and manages about one hundred fifty public schools in twenty-three states with a student population of about eighty-five thousand. It has bought over 30 thousand computers for its student’s families. Consequently, bragging that it has increased achievement by eighty-four percent. Even-though the company has recently been investigated by the Securities Exchange Commission, it still plan to keep growing. Finally, in looking at a few of Dr. Finn’s publications and testimonies to various political parties, he appear to have advocated for everything dealing with changing traditional schooling all the way to “The No Child Left Behind” laws and what it entails. References Harry Walker Agency, Inc. (2005) Chester E. Finn, Jr. Retrieved online 11/8/06 from http://www.harrywalker.com/speakers_template.cfm'spea_id=332 Pollard, R. (December, 2002). Classroom. Inc: Will privatization save public schools' Retrieved online 11/8/06 from http://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/features/classroomsinc12012002.html Thomas B. Fordham Institute. (2003-2006) Chester E. Finn, Jr. Retrieved online 11/8/06 from http://www.edexcellence.net/institute/about/individual_detail.cfm'id=8