Abstract
Frederick (Rick) Hess has been one of America’s most notable conservative education thinkers of the twenty-first century. His work stretches across federal, state, and local education policy and politics, teacher and leader preparation, school governance, accountability, innovation and entrepreneurship, technology, civics and social studies, and a host of other education-related issues. He has been a researcher, commentator, editor, speaker, consultant, convener, and teacher. The author or editor of more than 35 books, dozens of journal articles, and thousands of opinion columns and magazine articles, he has straddled the worlds of academic research and popular commentary. Starting with his first book, Spinning Wheels (Brookings, 1998), he has challenged the education system to care as much about the how of educational improvement as it does the what of the particular policies that are being advanced. He has argued that prosaic details, incentives, politics, norms, cultures, and attitudes are key to understanding if and how policies will work. He has also been a strong voice for entrepreneurship, and for policy creating space for problem-solvers to have more freedom in the education system.
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References
Abrams, S., & Khalid, A. (2020, October 21). Are colleges and universities too Liberal? What the research says about the political composition of campuses and campus climate. Heterodox Academy. https://heterodoxacademy.org/blog/are-colleges-and-universities-too-liberal-what-the-research-says-about-the-political-composition-of-campuses-and-campus-climate/
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Hess, F. (2013a). The missing half of school reform. National Affairs. Retrieved March 29, 2022 from https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-missing-half-of-school-reform
Hess, F. (2013b). Cage-busting leadership. Harvard Education Press.
Hess, F. (2015, March 13). Thinking about ‘What Works’. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/education/opinion-thinking-about-what-works/2015/03
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Further Reading
Hess, F. (2017). Letters to a young education reformer. Harvard Education Press.
Hess, F. (2015). The cage-busting teacher. Harvard Education Press.
Hess, F., & Saxberg, B. (2014). Breakthrough leadership in the digital age: Using learning science to reboot schooling. Corwin.
Hess, F. (2013). Cage-busting leadership. Harvard Education Press.
Hess, F. (2010). The same thing over and over: How school reformers get stuck in yesterday’s ideas. Harvard University Press.
Hess, F. (2010). Education unbound: The promise and practice of greenfield schooling. ASCD.
Hess, F., & Petrilli, M. (2006). No child left behind. Peter Lang.
Hess, F. (2006). Tough love for schools: Essays on competition, accountability, and excellence. AEI.
Hess, F. (2004). Common sense school reform. Palgrave Macmillan.
Hess, F. (2002). Revolution at the margins: The impact of competition on urban school systems. Brookings Institution.
Hess, F. (1999). Bringing the social sciences alive. Allyn & Bacon.
Hess, F. (1998). Spinning wheels: The politics of Urban School reform. Brookings Institution.
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McShane, M. (2024). Hess, Frederick. In: Geier, B.A. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Educational Thinkers . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81037-5_153-1
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