ConnCAN First Person Interview:  Frederick Hess

About Frederick Hess

Frederick Hess is a resident scholar and director of education policy studies at American Enterprise Institute (AEI). His many books include No Remedy Left Behind (AEI Press, 2007), No Child Left Behind: A Primer (Peter Lang, 2006), Educational Entrepreneurship (Harvard Education Press, 2006), Common Sense School Reform (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004). Hess currently serves on the review board for the Broad Prize in Urban Education, as executive editor of Education Next, and as a member of the research advisory board for the National Center on Educational Accountability. He is a former high school social studies teacher and a former professor of education and government at the University of Virginia. He holds his M.Ed. in teaching and curriculum and his M.A. and PH.D in government from Harvard University.

On district-wide excellence:
“What it really requires is a wholesale rethinking of what's going on in these districts and schools. Some schools are going to be able to do that effectively. It’s going to require tough, energetic leadership from the school board, the superintendent, and its going to require backing from the state legislature.”

On effective schools:
“One of the things these really effective schools have done is brought in effective management and created an environment where teachers feel their voices are heard, that their input is valued, and their performance is recognized. Everyone is pulling together, in the same direction."