Winter 2008

Establishing the Koret Task Force on K–12 Education

With the partnership and sponsorship of the Koret Foundation, the Hoover Institution formed the Task Force on K–12 Education in 1999. Hoover assembled education scholars, both resident and nonresident, to address specific issues prevailing in the education of our children. The Task Force membership, which includes some of the most highly regarded and well-known education scholars in the nation, produces original research, analyzes existing methodology, and offers recommendations to society. In a growing body of work on the most important issues in American education today, the group has achieved amazing accomplishments: scholarly writings, position papers, opinion essays, and advice to national and state governments in the form of testimony and written policy platforms. 

The current Koret Task Force on K–12 Education comprises

• Chester Finn, chair of the Task Force, senior fellow at Hoover, and president and trustee of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation
• John Chubb, distinguished visiting fellow at Hoover, chief education officer, and one of the founders of Edison Schools
• Eric Hanushek, Hoover senior fellow and member of the board of directors of the National Board for Education Sciences
• Paul Hill, distinguished visiting fellow at Hoover and research professor and director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington
• Caroline Hoxby, Hoover senior fellow and professor of economics at Stanford
• Terry Moe, Hoover senior fellow and professor of political science at Stanford
• Paul Peterson, Hoover senior fellow and professor of government and director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University
• Diane Ravitch, Hoover senior fellow and research professor at New York University
• Herbert Walberg, distinguished visiting fellow at Hoover and research professor emeritus of education and psychology and university scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago

The managing director of the Task Force is Richard Sousa, Hoover’s senior associate director. Earlier this year, Don Hirsch left the Task Force to pursue other projects, and Bill Evers took a temporary leave to serve in the Bush Administration as the assistant secretary of education; the Task Force is in the process of considering expansion of its membership in 2008 to include one or two new scholars whose skills and scholarship will complement and broaden the group’s expertise.

The Work of the Koret Task Force on K–12 Education

The Koret Task Force on K–12 Education investigates critical issues, gathers and presents evidence on actions and outcomes, and offers evidence-based recommendations to lawmakers, public officials, educators, and the public at large. 

Today’s situation is both exciting and troubling. Cities once thought unsalvageable are experimenting with major new reform programs: the parental choice program in Washington, D.C.; the charter school initiative underway in New Orleans; the new reform initiatives supported by Newark’s mayor Cory Booker; the uncompromising and often controversial leadership of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; and Indianapolis mayor Bart Peterson’s innovative approach to authorizing charter schools.

To improve education accountability systems, many states are in the process of building and implementing new educational data systems, following the example of leaders like Florida and Texas (two states that have drawn on the expertise of the Task Force in crafting education policy). Some districts are experimenting with pay initiatives for teachers; others are putting new alternative teaching programs into place. Areas with long-troubled schools are fighting for—and winning—mayoral control of school districts. After more than 20 years of stagnant academic achievement across the nation, many new education reforms, some grounded in research and others not, but all driven by strong ideas, are being put into action at the ground level in quick order across the nation—with both positive and negative consequences.

The work of the Task Force in these areas and others—school choice, incentive pay structures, proficiency and learning standards, curriculum reform, teacher certification, education finance, accountability, and academic achievement—has drawn the attention of federal and state officials, policymakers and policy thinkers, and education practitioners. The Task Force has advised congressional leaders and staff, governors and state legislators, and officials at the U.S. Department of Education and state education departments, among others. Task Force members have testified before state legislatures, courts, and education organizations on a variety of education policy issues.   

Clearly, access to sound research and analysis to guide policymaking is more important than ever. Through their scholarly work, their widely published commentary and opinion pieces, and their role as the editorial board of and contributors to the quarterly journal Education Next (recently named the most influential journal in education by the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center), the Koret Task Force on K–12 Education has made a dramatic impact on the public education landscape. 

As the Task Force prepares its new projects, members aim not only to influence current debate but also to anticipate those issues that lie just beyond the horizon, including preschool education, the evolving school choice movement, legislative reforms, the continued development of professional teaching, and the potential of technology to reform educational practice and politics. 

Read more