Ed Reform Minute

Geoffrey Lawrence, Deputy Director of Policy at the Nevada Policy Institute, talks about school choice legislation in Nevada.  Geoffrey is a frequent commentator on public policy in print, radio and television news in Nevada.He is noted for having developed comprehensive proposals for reform of the state revenue structure, budgeting methods and spending habits.Geoffrey holds an M.A. in International Economic Policy from American University and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where he was honored as the political science department's "Most Outstanding Senior" and was an award-winning athlete. Prior to joining NPRI, Geoffrey spent two years as a research assistant at the John Locke Foundation in North Carolina where he focused on energy policy.    For the latest in education reform news, check ChoiceMedia.TV.  For free karma points, tell a friend about the Ed Reform Minute podcast.© 2013 Choice Media 

Jerry Cantrell of the Common Sense Institute talks about the comments that led Newark Superintendent, Cami Anderson, to walk out of last night's school board meeting.  Jerry Cantrell is President of the Common Sense Institute of New Jersey (CSI•NJ), bringing his private-sector experience, and lifetime commitment to improving public policy to the Institute.Jerry has more than 30 years of business experience in the information technology and aerospace fields, including the founding and operating of a healthcare information systems venture. Mr. Cantrell has served as president/founder of The New Jersey Taxpayers Association since 2004. Jerry has also served as community activist for a local property tax organization (Sanely Tax Our Properties – STOP), Randolph Parents for Gifted and Talented Education and is a past president of the Randolph, NJ, Board of Education. For the latest in education reform news, check ChoiceMedia.TV.  For free karma points, tell a friend about the Ed Reform Minute podcast.© 2013 Choice Media 

Dr. Wayne D. Lewis, Assistant Professor at the University of Kentucky, talks about charter school legislation in the state. Dr. Lewis teaches courses in educational leadership, school-community relations, and the politics of education. His current research is in the areas of school-community relations, the politics of education, and school-based leadership. He also serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Kentucy Charter Schools Association, a Louisville based non-profit organization. Dr. Lewis completed undergraduate studies at Loyola University New Orleans, and completed a teacher education program at the University of New Orleans. He earned an M.A. at the University of Akron in the Department of Public Administration and Urban Studies, and a Ph.D. from North Carolina State University in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.     For the latest in education reform news, check ChoiceMedia.TV.  For free karma points, tell a friend about the Ed Reform Minute podcast.© 2013 Choice Media 

Jim Stergios from the Pioneer Institute talks about the new Mayor of Boston's position on school choice. He also comments on Boston's questionable teacher evaluation system.   Jim Stergios is Executive Director of Pioneer Institute, a  Boston-based think tank founded in 1988. Prior to joining Pioneer, Jim was Chief of Staff and Undersecretary for Policy  in the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, where he drove efforts on water policy, regulatory and permit reform, and urban revitalization. His prior experience includes founding and managing a business, teaching at the university level, and serving as headmaster at a preparatory school. Jim holds a doctoral degree in Political Science from Boston University.Jim has been interviewed on the BBC and MSNBC, and has appeared regularly on local television and radio news broadcasts, including Chronicle, WBZ, WHDH, WCVB, NECN, Fox 25, WGBH TV and radio, WBUR’s Radio Boston, WBZ’s Nightside with Dan Rea, WRKO’s Tom & Todd Show and Pundit Review. In addition to writing regular commentary as Boston.com’s education blogger, Jim’s opinion pieces have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The Weekly Standard, The Washington Times, The Daily Caller, and regional newspapers throughout New England. He has been quoted in hundreds of news outlets across the country, including in The New York Times, The Economist, and  The Washington Post, and speaks at national policy conferences.     For the latest in education reform news, check ChoiceMedia.TV.  For free karma points, tell a friend about the Ed Reform Minute podcast.© 2013 Choice Media 

Joe Williams of Democrats for Education Reform talks about how school shootings affect voting. He also comments on Politico's article about Republicans and school choice. Joe Williams has built a reputation as one of the most effective strategists and coalition-builders in the education reform community.He is a nationally recognized analyst and public speaker on education policy and politics, reaching thousands of listeners in audiences from coast to coast each year.Joe is also one of the most prolific writers and commentators in the education reform world, often tapping into his experience as a newspaper reporter and author to make the case for reform. He previously worked as an award-winning education journalist for the New York Daily News and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He has written extensively on education politics nationally and has served as a non-resident senior fellow for the Washington-based think-tank Education Sector. He is author of the book Cheating our Kids: How Politics and Greed Ruin Education (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.)  For the latest in education reform news, check ChoiceMedia.TV.  For free karma points, tell a friend about the Ed Reform Minute podcast.© 2013 Choice Media 

John Witte, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, talks about why Democrats should support school choice. Before becoming a professor at the University of Wisconsin, John Witte was director of the La Follette School for three years. Following three years as a naval officer, he received his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University in 1978. His research has focused on tax policy, politics and education, including school choice, vouchers and charter schools. His recent work, supported by the U.S. Department of Education and the Spencer Foundation, examined charter schools. He was principal investigator for a research team studying the longitudinal effects of the Milwaukee school voucher program.Professor Witte is author or co-author of eight books and more than 75 articles or book chapters. Witte has made seminal research contributions in budget and tax policy and in education policy. His books, The Politics and Development of the Federal Income Tax (University of Wisconsin Press, 1985) and The Market Approach to Education: Analysis of America's First Voucher Program (Princeton University Press, 2000), are considered landmark works by scholars and policy practioners alike. For the latest in education reform news, check ChoiceMedia.TV.  For free karma points, tell a friend about the Ed Reform Minute podcast.© 2013 Choice Media 

Matthew Ladner, Senior Advisor of Policy and Research for the Foundation for Excellence in Education, gives his opinion on the Fordham Institute's support of requiring students who recieve vouchers to participate in state accountability testing. Dr. Matthew Ladner is the Senior Advisor of Policy and Research for the Foundation for Excellence in Education. He previously served as Vice President of Research and Goldwater Institute. Prior to joining Goldwater, Ladner was director of state projects at the Alliance for School Choice. Ladner has written numerous studies on school choice, charter schools and special education reform and coauthored Report Card on American Education: Ranking State K-12 Performance, Progress and Reform for the American Legislative Exchange Council. Ladner has testified before Congress, the United States Commission of Civil Rights and numerous state legislative committees. Ladner is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and received both a Masters and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Houston. Ladner is a Senior Fellow with the Foundation for Educational Choice and the Goldwater Institute. Dr. Ladner lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife Anne and children Benjamin, Jacob and Abigail.  For the latest in education reform news, check ChoiceMedia.TV.  For free karma points, tell a friend about the Ed Reform Minute podcast.© 2013 Choice Media 

Lisa Snell of the Reason Foundation talks about Louisiana's new funding formula and the debate over teacher licensing rules in Indiana. Lisa Snell is the director of education and child welfare at Reason Foundation, a nonprofit think tank advancing free minds and free markets.Snell has frequently testified before the California State Legislature and numerous other state legislatures and government agencies. She has authored policy studies on school finance and weighted student funding, universal preschool, school violence, charter schools, and child advocacy centers.Snell is a frequent contributor to Reason magazine,  School Reform News and Privatization Watch. Her writing has also appeared in Education Week, Edutopia, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, San Francisco Chronicle, Orange County Register, Los Angeles Times, and numerous other publications.  For the latest in education reform news, check ChoiceMedia.TV.  For free karma points, tell a friend about the Ed Reform Minute podcast.© 2013 Choice Media 

Eric Wearne, Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Georgia Gwinnett College, talks about what he thinks of Brookings' 2013 Education Choice and Competition Index. Eric Wearne is an assistant professor in the School of Education at Georgia Gwinnett College, where he teaches assessment and foundations classes for undergraduates.  Prior to joining the GGC faculty, Dr. Wearne was Deputy Director of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) in Atlanta, where he managed the publication of the annual State Report Card and Scoreboard, coordinated several Georgia-specific research projects, played a major role in planning and conducting statewide audits of standardized testing practices in Georgia's public schools, and also helped develop and write Georgia’s successful federal Race to the Top application.  A Senior Fellow at the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, his writing has been published by the GPPF, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Foxnews.com, and the Cato Institute, among others. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Studies from Emory University, a M.A. in English Education from the University of Georgia and a B.A. in English from Florida State University.  For the latest in education reform news, check ChoiceMedia.TV.  For free karma points, tell a friend about the Ed Reform Minute podcast.© 2013 Choice Media 

Paul Peterson, Director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University, comments on his study, “Information Fuels Support for School Reform: Facts about local district performance alter public thinking.” Paul E. Peterson is the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government and Director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Editor-In-Chief of Education Next, a journal of opinion and research.Peterson is a former director of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and of the Governmental Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. He received his Ph. D. in political science from the University of Chicago. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Education, and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the German Marshall Foundation, and the Center for Study in the Behavioral Sciences.He is the author of the book, Saving Schools: From Horace Mann to Virtual Learning (Harvard University Press, 2010). For the latest in education reform news, check ChoiceMedia.TV.  For free karma points, tell a friend about the Ed Reform Minute podcast.© 2013 Choice Media 

Daria Hall, Director of K-12 Policy Development, talks about the states who are struggling to meet the NCLB waiver requirements.  Daria joined The Education Trust in 2003 as a policy analyst. Since then, she has authored reports and participated in national policy conversations about accountability, high school graduation, and standards.  She also leads the organization’s work to identify high-poverty, high-minority, high-performing schools. Previously, Daria worked as an analyst for the Texas Legislative Council. She is a graduate of Rice University and holds a master’s from the University of Wisconsin.       For the latest in education reform news, check ChoiceMedia.TV.  For free karma points, tell a friend about the Ed Reform Minute podcast. © 2014 Choice Media 

Mike Petrilli, Executive Vice President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, talks about the Louisiana teacher tenure law that was struck down in court. He also comments on the large amount of teachers who are leaving the teachers union in Wisconsin.   Mike Petrilli is an award-winning writer and one of the nation’s most trusted education analysts. As executive vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Petrilli helps to lead the country’s most influential education-policy think tank and contributes to its Flypaper blog and weekly Education Gadfly newsletter. He is the author of The Diverse Schools Dilemma: A Parent's Guide to Socioeconomically Mixed Public Schools, published in 2012. Petrilli is also a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and executive editor of Education Next.   For the latest in education reform news, check ChoiceMedia.TV.  For free karma points, tell a friend about the Ed Reform Minute podcast.© 2013 Choice Media 

Andy Smarick, a Partner at Bellwether Education Partners, talks about his book, The Urban School System of the Future. He also comments on his articles about the 2013 NAEP results and rural schools in America. Andy Smarick works in Bellwether’s Thought Leadship practice. Andy most recently served as Deputy Commissioner of Education of the State of New Jersey where he helped lead initiatives including the state’s successful ESEA waiver and Race to the Top 3 applications, the launching of new teacher evaluations, and an overhaul of the department’s charter school authorizing. Andy previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education and at the White House Domestic Policy Council, and has worked for Congress and the Maryland state legislature. Other roles include Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Adjunct Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, and Chief Operating Officer of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.Today's music was provided by Jolee Patkai.For the latest in education reform news, check ChoiceMedia.TV. For free karma points, tell a friend about the Ed Reform Minute podcast. © 2013 Choice Media 

Todd Ziebarth, Vice President for State Advocacy and Support for the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools, talks about the lawsuit in New York to stop charters from sharing building space with traditional public schools. He also comments on the New Jersey Supreme Court's decision to play a role in charter authorization and the possible growth of charters in North Carolina. Before joining the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, Todd worked as a policy analyst both at the Education Commission of the States from 1997 to 2003 and at Augenblick, Palaich, and Associates from 2003 to 2005. He has a Bachelor of Business Administration from Western Michigan University, a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Colorado at Denver and a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Colorado at Denver.For the latest in education reform news, check ChoiceMedia.TV.  For free karma points, tell a friend about the Ed Reform Minute podcast. © 2013 Choice Media 

Rhonda Hopps, Chief Executive Officer of Perspectives Charter Schools, talks about the future of charter schools in Chicago. She also talks about The Ticket, a new documentary film that addresses the question "what is school choice?" Perspectives was launched in 1993 by two Chicago Public School teachers who believed that character development and academic achievement are interrelated. They created a curriculum called A Disciplined Life and started a “school within a school” at Dyett Middle School on Chicago’s South Side. In 1997, Perspectives Charter Schools became one of the first charter schools in Illinois. Today, Perspectives Charter Schools serves nearly 2,300 students in grades six through twelve at five open-enrollment, tuition-free public schools.For the latest in education reform news, check ChoiceMedia.TV. For free karma points, tell a friend about the Ed Reform Minute podcast.  © 2013 Choice Media