Parent Cortical Mass

E. D. Hirsch, Jr.

Founder/Chairman, Core Knowledge Foundation; Former Professor Emeritus of Education and Humanities at University of Virginia

How did E.D. Hirsh, Jr., an English professor and literary critic, become one of the foremost education reformers of the last half-century?  The journey started with him asking a question--why were the very bright freshmen he taught so ill prepared for college literature?  That question led to a groundbreaking discovery that he said changed his life.  His journey, though, turned out to be a politically controversial one. The left objected to his ideas for being culturally elitist—an irony for Hirsh since he is a liberal democrat.

To answer that first question he conducted experiments and discovered that even though his students had excellent reading skills, their comprehension was poor because they lacked the general background knowledge taken for granted by the authors.  Over the years Hirsh began to understand that a core of “enabling knowledge” makes it possible to understand reading, writing and public discourse.  He developed ways to systematically identify and accumulate that core of knowledge.  His work led to the long run, best-selling book, Cultural Literacy, and the hit series of books that followed. 

Next along the path he established the Core Knowledge Foundation, which developed a curriculum now used in over 1,000 schools.  The success of Hirsh’s school programs inspired the National Governors Association’s collaborative effort to develop The Common Core State Standards.  In 2010, these standards were adopted by 44 states and more are expected to participate in 2011.  This is one of the most significant changes happening in education reform. Hirsch, in his early 80s, continues to advocate, recently appearing before the Virginia legislature to promote a "coherent and cumulative early curriculum" that will "narrow unacceptable achievement gaps."  His recent book, The Knowledge Deficit, summarizes extensive research affirming the value of teaching a common core in schools.

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Randi Weingarten

President, American Federation of Teachers

The New Yorker named Randi Weingarten one the most influential leaders in New York education.  Crain’s put her on the list of the 25 most powerful women in New York City.  This acclaim came before the American Federation of Teachers, a labor union of 1.5 million teachers, elected her president in 2008, which elevated her power and influence to the national level. 

In an era where wealthy business-minded education reformers publically blame the teachers’ union for America’s education gaps, Weingarten’s job as the face of the union is formidable.  In the recent education documentary, Waiting for Superman, she was made the villain.  But despite public animosity, Weingarten, a former lawyer, doesn’t mind the heat.  She speaks frequently to a hostile press, meets with her critics at every opportunity, and shows up at public events where she’s clearly the only one on her side.  But, what’s more interesting is that at every conflict-filled session, she genuinely seems there for the dialogue, and not the rhetoric.  She represents the union, but also manages to collaborate on the problems.

Adapting to the times, she has taken some unexpected actions.  She focused the union on innovation, accepted charter schools so long as they do not take funding from public schools, allowed for standardized tests to be a limited measure of teacher effectiveness, and promoted using a master teacher corps to improve teacher performance.  Randi Weingarten invited Bill Gates to speak at the 2010 AFT convention, a move met with both enthusiasm and protest by union members.  She keeps her friends close, but her enemies closer.

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Clayton M. Christensen

Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School; Founder, Innosight Ventures; Co-founder, Rose Park Advisors

At 6’10” Clayton Christensen literally stands head and shoulders above the crowd, but that is a minor reason for why he commands attention.  His list of accomplishments is what impresses--Rhodes scholar, Harvard MBA, best-selling author of five books, including a masterpiece, The Innovator’s Dilemma, and a venture capitalist.  A humble and spirited man, Clayton Christensen is a renowned influencer in the business world, but not so much in education policy.  But because his theories and models on “disruptive innovation” give education reformers great confidence, he’s made our list.  His important book, Disrupting Class, is one of PCM’s Top 10 Books for Parents. 

For many years now business leaders, including giants like Gates and Buffet, have contended with disruptive innovation in their industries, and many believe it’s time for disruption in the education system, so that America’s labor force isn’t left behind. 

Christensen, whose expertise is econometrics, is the son of teachers, the spouse of a teacher, and a teacher himself.  He says these personal connections to the life of schools and teaching affect his thinking.  He has studied the education data, plugged the numbers into his models, and forecast when disruptive technologies will cause a “breathtaking flip” in public education.  This flip, he says, will start in 2012 and be completed by 2019.  He didn’t write the reformers playbook, but his ideas are in there.

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