Better Leaders for America's Schools: A Manifesto
May 1, 2003
This report, published jointly by the Fordham Institute and The Broad Foundation, contends that American public education faces a "crisis in leadership" that cannot be alleviated from traditional sources of school principals and superintendents. Its signers do not believe this crisis can be fixed by conventional strategies for preparing, certifying and employing education leaders. Instead, they urge that first-rate leaders be sought outside the education field, earn salaries on par with their peers in other professions, and gain new authority over school staffing, operations and budgets.
Contents
- Foreword, by Chester E. Finn, Jr.
- Introduction, by Eli Broad
- Executive Summary
- Overview
- The Problem
- Catching The Wave
- Expanding The Pool
- A Faulty Pipeline
- Qualities Of Successful Education Leaders
- Our Proposal: Qualifications, Not Credentials
- Paying The Price
- Conclusion
- Endnotes
- Summary, by Emily Feistritzer
- Profiles, by Lawrence Meyer
- Manifesto Signers
Manifesto Signers
MANIFESTO SIGNERS
(as of January 21, 2005)
Steven Adamowski, Assistant Professor, Education Leadership and Policy Studies
(former CEO, Cincinnati Public Schools), University of Missouri at St. Louis
Lamar Alexander, United States Senator
Jeanne Allen, President, The Center for Education Reform
Leslye A. Arsht, Chairman and Co-founder, StandardsWork, Inc.
William Bennett, Co-director, Empower America
Alan D. Bersin, Superintendent of Public Education, San Diego City Schools
Stacey Boyd, former President and CEO, Project Achieve
Eli Broad, Founder, Broad Foundation
Sheila Byrd, Education Policy Consultant
Thomas W. Carroll, President, Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability
Michael D. Casserly, Executive Director, Council of the Great City Schools
John Chubb, Chief Education Officer and Vice President, Edison Schools
Judy Codding, Vice-President, National Center on Education and the Economy
Barbara Davidson, Executive Director, HireStandards
Paula Dawning, Broad Fellow Graduate and Superintendent, Benton Harbor Area Schools, Michigan
Candace deRussy, Trustee , State University of New York and Member of Board of Visitors, Air Force Academy
Denis P. Doyle, Co-founder and CAO, SchoolNet, Inc.
Bill Evers, Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Mike Feinberg, Co-founder, KIPP
Emily Feistritzer, President, National Center for Education Information
Chester E. Finn, Jr., President , Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Mary Lee Fitzgerald, Former Commissioner of Education, New Jersey Department of Education
Howard Fuller, Distinguished Professor of Education, Marquette University
William F. Goodling, Former Chairman, Committee on Education and the Workforce, United States House of Representatives
Jay P. Greene, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute
Peter R. Greer, Headmaster, The Montclair Kimberley Academy
Paul R. Gross, University Professor of Life Sciences, emeritus, University of Virginia
Allen Grossman, Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School
James W. Guthrie, Director, Peabody Center for Education Policy, Vanderbilt University
Scott Hamilton, President and Co-founder, KIPP
Eric Hanushek, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Frederick Hess, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
Anne Higdon, CEO and Superintendent, ISUS Trade and Technology Prep
E.D. Hirsch, Chairman, Core Knowledge Foundation
Gary Huggins, Executive Director, Education Leaders Action Council
Dan Katzir, Managing Director, Broad Foundation
Lisa Graham Keegan, CEO, Education Leaders Council
Leo Klagholz, Former Commissioner of Education, New Jersey Department of Education
Martin Kozloff, Watson Distinguished Professor of Education, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Rita Kramer, Author, Ed School Follies: The Miseducation of America's Teachers
David Levin, Co-founder and Superintendent, KIPP
Tom Loveless, Director, Brown Center on Education Policy, Brookings Institution
Frank J. Macchiarola, President, St. Francis College and former New York City Schools Chancellor
Bruno Manno, Senior Associate for Education, Annie E. Casey Foundation
Don McAdams, President, Center for Reform of School Systems
Deborah M. McGriff, Chief Communications Officer, Edison Schools
Terry M. Moe, Professor, Political Science, Stanford University
William J. Moloney, Commissioner of Education, Colorado Department of Education
Cathy Nehf Lund, Project Director, Walton Family Foundation, Inc.
Ronald L. Ottinger, President, Board of Education, San Diego City Schools
Bill Owens, Governor of Colorado
Michael Podgursky, Professor of Economics, University of Missouri at Columbia
Andrew J. Rotherham, Director of Education Policy, Progressive Policy Institute
David Warren Saxe, Member, Pennsylvania State Board of Education
John Schilling, Chief of Staff, Education Leaders Council
Lewis C. Solmon, Former Dean, Graduate School of Education, UCLA
David Steiner, Chairman, Department of Administration, Training, and Policy Studies; School of Education, Boston University*
Richard A. Stoff, President, Ohio Business Roundtable
Suzanne Tacheny, Member, California Board of Education
Abigail Thernstrom, Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute, and member of the Massachusetts Board of Education
Marc Tucker, President, National Center on Education and the Economy
Herbert J. Walberg, Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
John Walton, Walton Family Foundation, Inc.
Bradford Wilson, Executive Director, National Association of Scholars
Charles Zogby, former Secretary of Education, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Aaron L. Steenbergen, PhD., Retired Secondary Teacher and Teacher Educator
Hector R. Barrionuevo, Student in Music Composition
Teresa Montseny, Phoenix, Arizona
Kate Walsh, Executive Director, National Council on Teacher Quality
Christopher K. Payne, MD, President, Karen & Christopher Payne Family Foundation
Kelley A. Brock, Ph.D., CEO, National Center for Training and Educational Assistance
Dee Allen, Policy Researcher/Webmaster, educatenj.com & Former NJ Local Board of Education Member
Kevin Spier, Student Teacher in Detroit
Wilda Heard, Doctoral Candidate
Dr. Julie Mikuta, Elected Member, Washington DC Board of Education
David C. Bloomfield, Program Head, Educational Administration, Brooklyn College, CUNY
Johanna Haver, Author, Structured English Immersion: A Step by Step Guide for K-6 Teachers and Administrators
Dr. Holly A. Robinson, Senior Vice President, Georgia Public Policy Foundation
Stan Metzenberg, Assistant Professor, Biology, California State University Northridge
Sarah Kass, Co-founder, City on a Hill Charter School
Suzanne E. Donovan, Ed.D., Graduate Education Instructor, Wilmington College, DE
Matthew J. Brouillette, President, The Commonwealth Foundation
Pamela Riley, Senior Policy Fellow in Education, Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, Author, Certified or Qualified: Teacher Credentialing in California
Barbara C. Zinn, President, The Ledo Group & Freelance Marketer of Education Policy Reform
Samuel Casey Carter, Author, No Excuses: Lessons from 21 High-Performing, High Poverty Schools
Saul Cooperman, Former Commissioner of New Jersey
James Fedako, Vice President, Board of Education, Olentangy School District
Jim Milgram, Professor of Mathematics, Dept. of Mathematics, Stanford University
Robert Gray Holland, Senior Fellow, The Lexington Institute
Patrick J. Wolf, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Georgetown Public Policy Institute
Dr. David Feeney, Director of Digital Education, Fox School of Business & Management, Temple University
Dr. Patrick A. Bassett, Founder - President/CEO, Omega Schools
George C. Leef, Director, Pope Center for Higher Education Policy
Jimmy Kilpatrick, Senior Fellow, Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, Editor in Chief, EducationNews.org
Margarita L. Melendez, U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education & Northern Virginia Community College
Gary Huggins, Executive Director, Education Leaders Action Council
William J. Hume, Trustee, The Heritage Foundation
Donna M. Fitzpatrick, Founding Principal/Superintendent, River Mill Charter School District, NC & Former Member, NC League of Charter Schools, CEO, EducationWorks
Jonathan Williams, Founder & Co-Director, The Accelerated School
Claudia Hepburn, Managing Director/Director of Educational Policy, The Fraser Institute, Ontario Office
Maureen Milligan, Law Student, American University (Former First Grade Teacher, DC Public Schools)
Richard D. Schubart, Ph.D., Phillips Exeter Academy
Joseph H. Proietta, Ed.M., Chief Administrative Officer/Board Secretary, Community Academy of Philadelphia
Richard Tracey, Ph.D., Vice President, Bridges Learning Systems
George H. Hanford, President Emeritus, The College Board
Peter Svahn, Vice President, Innovative Schools Development Corporation & Director, Ohio Charter School Association
Patricia K. Kullback, recent Administration Policy graduate w/ M.A., businesswoman, recent special educator, community political activist/leader
Norma Garza, Chair, Brownsville Reads, Commissioner, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans Commission
Samuel Halperin, Senior Fellow & Founder, American Youth Policy Forum
Susan Schaeffler, Principal, KIPP DC:Key Academy
Lester Cooper, Owner, Terry Cooper Political Research
Bill Phillips, President, New York Charter Schools Association
Christpher Grewe, SVP - Corporate Development, MetaMetrics, Inc.
James K. Murphy, Founder, Chicago Charter School Foundation, Daniel Murphy Scholarship Foundation
Mike A. Snyder, Volunteer Reading Tutor, Lakewood, Washington State
Seth Liebsohn, Director of Policy, Empower America
Sandy Aguirre Mayer, Member, Hispanic Council Coalition for Reform and Educational Options, President, Midtown Youth Foundation, Kansas City, MO, Member, Coalition of Hispanic Organizations Education Committee, Kansas City, MO, Former Member, Kansas City, MO School Board
Glenn A. Delk, President, Georgia Parents for Better Schools
Perry L. White, Executive Director, Citizen's Academy, Cleveland, OH
Joe Lucente, Executive Director, Fenton Avenue Charter School
Van Schoales, Vice President, Colorado Children's Campaign
William Ouchi, Sigoloff Professor, Anderson School of Management, UCLA
Norman LaRocque, Policy Advisor, New Zealand Business Roundtable and Education Forum, Wellington, New Zealand
Andy Smarick, Director, Charter School Leadership Council
Mechel Wall, President, BCCSO, Inc. & Founder, Benton County School of the Arts
Louann Bierlein Palmer, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Teaching, Learning and Leadership, Western Michigan University
Sean Nelson, Executive Assistant, American Academy for Liberal Education
William Craig Rice, Ph.D., Director of Education Assessment of Charter School Accreditation, American Academy for Liberal Education
Beth Nank, Policy Analyst, Education Leaders Council
David Olmstead, Former Board of Education Member, Detroit Public Schools, School Reform Lawyer, Lansing, MI
Joan Lange, Program Director, Challenge Foundation
Mark Y. Herring, Dean of Library Services, Dacus Library, Winthrop University
Scott Rorex, Parent Volunteer & Board Member, Imboden Area Charter School, Imboden, AR
Regan Kenyon, President, Secondary School Admission Test Board
Katherine Kersten, Senior Fellow, Center of the American Experiment
George W. Fellendorf, Ed.D., Executive Director (Retired), The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf
Roger Gerber, The League of Charter Schools
Thomas Hobbs, C.P.A., Network Administrator
Delia Stafford-Johnson, President, The Haberman Educational Foundation, Inc.
Jose Afonso, Director of Governmental Affairs, SABIS Educational Systems, Inc.
Jorge Mesa-Tejada, Founder & Incorporator, Citizens Education Association
David Bricker, Ph.D., Psychologist in private practice, New York City
Durk G. Rorie, Chairman, Children's Scholarship Fund of Greater Cincinnati
Paul R. Gross, University Professor of Life Sciences, emeritus, University of Virginia
Frank Beckendorf BCJ, MA, Teacher, Jefferson Parish Public Schools
Richard H. Bartlett, Ed.D., Consultant in Exceptional Children, Topsham, ME
Bob Ward, Host of Texas Journal radio call-in program - KIXL, Austin, TX
Patrick Groff, Professor of Education Emeritus, San Diego State University
Bill Jackson, President, GreatSchools.net
Jon-Mark C. Patterson, P.C., Attorney, High School Teacher, Ridgeview Classical Charter School
Cheryl Blomstrom, Nevada Prosperity Project
C. Jackson Grayson, Jr., Chairman, American Productivity & Quality Center
Stephen Kutno, Vice President, Education, The Princeton Review
John Engler, former Governor of Michigan
Guilbert C. Hentschke, Professor, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California
Jim & Fawn Spady, Co-directors, Educational Excellence Coalition
Donald B. Crawford, Ph.D., Otter Creek Institute
Michael D. Piscal, Head of School, View Park Prepatory Accelerated Charter School, President, Inner City Education Foundation
Andrew H. Wolff, School Board Member in CT since 1969 - 4 years as Chairman
Donn Weinberg, Vice President & Trustee, The Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, Inc.
Sunti Gandhi, Ph.D., President, Council for Global Education, USA, President, Education Society of Iceland, Advisor, CMS Schools, Lucknow, India (World's Largest School)
Stephen D. Hoffelt, President, Effective Teaching Services
Peter Stewart, Vice President for School Development, K12 Inc.
Kevin Teasley, GEO Foundation, 21st Century Charter School
Ward L. Reed, Jr., School Director, Saint Johnsbury (VT) School District
Ralph A. Raimi, Professor of Mathematics, emeritus, University of Rochester
Mark S. Francis, Executive Director, Arizona School for the Arts, Phoenix, AZ
David R. Hostetler, Assistant Director, Principals' Executive Program, Center for School Leadership Development, University of North Carolina
Bryan C. Hassel, Public Impact
Gregg Vanourek, Senior Vice President, School Development, K12 Inc.
Michael Coulter, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Political Science, Grove City College, Grove City, PA
Michael Warder, Executive Director, Los Angeles Children's Scholarship Fund
Robert D. Spencer, Governing Board Vice-Chair, Cross City Campaign for Urban School Reform
James H. Moss, Retired Hospital Executive, Bethesda Hospice, Cincinnati & others
Dwight Evans, PA House of Representatives
Benno C, Schmidt, Jr., Chairman, Edison Schools, Chairman of Board of Trustees, City University of New York
Stefan Graves Lanfer, Site Coodinator, Project for School Innovation
Alan N. Kay, Teacher, Author, Young Heroes of History
Theodore Lobman, Former President, Stuart Foundation
Gary Tomak, Member, Board of Education, Desert Sands Unified School District, La Quinta, CA
Ray Bacon, Executive Director, Nevada Manufacturers Association
Susan Pimentel, Co-founder, StandardsWork
Mack R. Hicks, Ph.D., CEO, Center Academy Schools, President, Partnership for Educational Fairness
Paul M. Henkels, Chairman, Henkels & McCoy, Inc.
Arti V. Finn, AVP, Business Development, Admissions Services, The Princeton Review
Rep. Frank Attkisson, Florida House of Representatives, Chairman, Subcommittee on Education Innovation
John T. Wenders, Professor of Economics, University of Idaho, Senior Fellow, The Commonwealth Foundation
Gerry Vazquez, President, New York Charter School Resource Center
Ed Schaefer, Vice-President, Educational Resources, Inc.
Janice B. Riddell, Education Policy Consultant
Michael J. Guerra, President, National Catholic Association (NCEA)
Maris A. Vinovskis, Professor, Dept. of History, University of Michigan
David Ponitz, President Emeritus, Sinclair Community College
Anita Nelam, Vice President, Communication & Organizational Development, Ohio Charter School Association
Mark C. Schug, Professor & Director, Center for Economic Education, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Peter Meyer, Journalist
Andrew Calkins, Executive Director, Mass Insight Education and Research Institute
James M. Warford, Chancellor, K-12 Public Schools, Dept. of Education
Patricia Ann Brantley, President, Brantley Harris Consulting Group, Director, Partnership for Academic Achievement
Peter Laub, Director of Marketing & Policy, Back-Office Services for California Charter Schools
Betty Coxe, Deputy Chancellor, K-12 Public Schools, Florida Dept. of Education
Mark Weinberg, Director of Education, Charter Schools Office, Central Michigan University
Lynn Kepford, Research Analyst, National Charter School Clearinghouse
Raymond Bauer, Ed.D, Retired Assistant Superintendent/Director of Special Education
Ralph M. Tanner, Ph.D., Former Chair, NCSL Federal Issues, Committee on Education; Former Chair, Kansas House Education Committee
Bob Howitt, Executive-Director, WKBJ Foundation
Bonnie E. Smith, Executive Director of Parents Advancing Choice in Education (PACE)
Jack Murrah, President, The Lyndhurst Foundation
Daniel M. McKinley, Executive Director, PAVE
Robert Haag, President, Florida Consortium of Charter Schools
Dr. John Battles, Assistant Professsor of Educational Leadership, George Washington University, Alexandria Campus
Deborah Bond-Upson, Principal, Best Practice Networks, Founder, Teacher Universe, Former EVP, Knowledge Universe
Jack McCarthy, Managing Director, AppleTree Institute for Education Innovation
Aldo S. Bernado, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Midieval & Renaissance Studies, Emeritus, Binghamton University
Kevin Walker, President, Project Appleseed
Dr. Barbara S. Nielsen, Senior Scholar, Strom Thurmond Institute, Clemson University, Former S.C. State Superintendent of Education
John S. Kim, Student, Georgetown Public Policy Institute
Vincent Winterling, The Devereux Foundation
Sandra Crandall, Teacher, Fountain Valley Elementary School District, Fountain Valley, CA
Nathan Glazer, Professor of Education and Sociology Emeritus, Harvard University
Kathleen Madigan, President, American Board for Certification for Teacher Excellence
John Cribb, Co-author, The Educated Child: A Parent's Guide from Preschool through Eighth Grade (with Chester E. Finn, Jr. & Bill Bennett)
Rosemary N. Palmer, Attorney at Law
Robert C. Embry, Jr., President, The Abell Foundation
Bonnie Legro, Program Officer for Education, The Abell Foundation
Kevin D. Sandlin, Ph.D., Consulting Clinical Psychologist for Neuro-psychological Testing & Evaluation, Addictions Recovery & Neuro-Pharmacological Profiling. State of Kentucky - Governor's Council for the Prevention of Child Abuse (1987--)
F. Parker Fowler, Jr., Ph.D., VP, Technology, Classic Schools, Inc.
Sarah B. Natividad, Mathematics Lecturer, Utah State University, Adjunct, Stevens-Henager College
Leslie Talbot, Vice President, K12connect, Inc.
Leroy Ervin, Ph.D., Chair, National Educational Policy Committee, 100 Black Men of America, Inc.
Mitchell B. Pearlstein, Ph.D., President, Center of the American Experiment
Joanne Jacobs, Education Writer
Anita Landecker, Executive Director, ExED (Excellent Education Development)
Frank J. Heller, MPA, Coordinator, Maine School Choice Coalition
Larry Patrick, Chair, Detroit Chapter, Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO)
Suzanne J. S. Ryan, Ed.S., Director of Special Education, Fulton Independent School District, Fulton, KY
Sally A. Pinckard, Principal, Summit Leadership Coaching and Development, St. Louis, MO
Kelly Amis Stewart, Co-author of Making it Count: A Guide to High-Impact Philanthropy
Patricia Russom, Peyton, Colorado; Grandparent
Deb Page, Executive Director, Georgia's Leadership Institute for School Improvement
Roger B. Porter, Professor, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Eric A. Schwartz, B.L., Schwartz Foundation
Lucien Ellington, Codirector: Asia Program & UC Foundation Professor of Education, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Patsy O'Neill, Executive Director, Charter School Resource Center of Texas
Rebecca Walker, 8th Grade Language Arts Teacher, Rio Rico, AZ
Aaron Nitzkin, Education Consultant
William J. Bundy, Graduate Student in Education, East Tennessee State University
Perry L. White, Executive Director, Citizen's Academy
Elias Crim, Link Institute
Mark Halpert, 3D Learner
Marilyn Reed, Director, Pine-Richland School, Wexford, PA
J.C. Bowman, Center for Education Innovation, Florida State University
Roy Bacon, NMA, Carson City, Nevada
Lindlyn Kakadelis, Lock Foundation, North Carolina Education Alliance, Raleigh, NC
David W. Kirkpatrick, Senior Education Fellow, US Freedom Foundation
Teressa V. Staten, Ph.D., President, National Charter Schools Institute