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Education policy maven Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute think tank offers straight talk on matters of policy, politics, research, and reform. Read more from this blog.

Education Opinion

Introducing Your Special Guest Stars: Lautzenheiser, Goble, Fennell, and Morris/Stone

By Rick Hess — July 06, 2012 2 min read
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Hey folks. So I’m heading off for a few weeks. I’ll be teaching at UPenn and Rice, visiting with UVA’s School Turnaround Specialist Program and Clark County’s reformers, and generally getting out and about. I’ll have a chance to read and talk to a bunch of interesting people. Hell, with any luck, I’ll even learn a few things. Anyway, seemed like a good time to hand the RHSU wheel over to some stellar guest bloggers, and to see what they have to say.

First up, the week of July 9, we have AEI’s own Daniel Lautzenheiser. Daniel, the newly-appointed program manager for my edu-shop at AEI, took his first crack at guest blogging back in January. Rave reviews made it a no-brainer to get him back soon. Daniel’s punchy prose and sharp-eyed take on issues ranging from Race to the Top to the value of cheering in school reform make for terrific reading, and I’m confident you’ll once again be intrigued by his musings.

The week of July 16, we’ll hear from Trenton Goble of MasteryConnect. After 20 years as a teacher, principal, and district director in Salt Lake City, Trenton moved on to become Chief Academic Officer at start-up MasteryConnect, a venture providing data and assessment tools to support professional learning communities (PLCs). I’m curious to see what he has to say about how next-gen data tools can aid PLCs, the challenges of edu-entrepreneurship, and the role of technology in instructional improvement.

The week of July 23, we’ll have Maddie Fennell. Maddie, who has been an elementary teacher for over 20 years (and was also Nebraska’s Teacher of the Year in 2007) chaired the NEA’s Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching last year. For those who haven’t checked it out, the Commission’s report was surprisingly terrific, and Maddie is someone who has both the interest and ability to help the NEA and would-be reformers talk and argue in more constructive, solution-oriented ways.

Finally, the week of July 30 will feature Sydney Morris and Evan Stone of Educators for Excellence (E4E). Sydney and Evan co-founded and serve as the co-CEOs of E4E, an organization committed to giving teachers more voice in policy decisions and “reform"-minded teachers more say in their unions. Prior to launching E4E in 2010, both taught in the Bronx. They’re hard-charging and passionate champions of teacher involvement in rethinking schools and schooling, and I’m excited to see what they come up with.

Enjoy, and I’ll see you all in August!

The opinions expressed in Rick Hess Straight Up are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.