Common Sense School Reform

Forget everything you think you know about school reform. Cutting through the cant, sentiment, and obfuscation characterizing the current school reform debate, Frederick M. Hess lacerates the conventional "status quo" reform efforts and exposes the naivete underlying reform strategies that rest on solutions like class size reduction, small schools, and enhanced professional development. He explains that real improvement requires a bracing regime of common sense reforms that create a culture of competence by rewarding excellence, punishing failure, and giving educators the freedom and flexibility to do their work. He documents the scope of the challenges we face and then provides concrete recommendations for addressing them through reforms to promote accountability, competition, a 21st-century workforce, effective school leadership, and sensible reinvention. Engagingly written and drawing on real world experiences and examples, Common Sense School Reform will generate debate and help set the agenda for the future.

Frederick M. Hess is Director of Educational Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute and Executive Editor of Education Next. He is known for his scholarship on educational issues including: the politics of school reform, urban education, district governance, accountability, professional licensure, school choice, and the nature of public education. He is the author of books including Common Sense School Reform, Revolution at the Margins, Spinning Wheels, and Bringing the Social Sciences Alive and the editor of volumes including School Choice in the Real World and A Qualified Teacher in Every Classroom. His work has been published in scholarly forums including Phi Delta Kappan, Urban Affairs Review, Educational Policy, Teachers College Record, and Social Science Quarterly; general education publications including Educational Leadership, Education Week, and American School Board Journal; and more popular outlets such as Policy Review and Weekly Standard. Dr. Hess currently 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 on Educational Accountability. Dr. Hess is a former high school social studies teacher in Louisiana and professor of education at the University of Virginia. He earned his M.Ed. from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the Harvard University Department of Government.