Foundation announces winners of 2007 Prizes for Excellence in Education

January 22, 2007

by Jennifer Leischer

Haycock, Hill, Thernstroms win prestigious awards

Washington, D.C.-The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation named civil rights & education researchers Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom, keen and creative analyst Paul T. Hill, and charismatic equality champion Kati Haycock the recipients of the 2007 Fordham Prizes for Excellence in Education.

"Each year we strive, with the help of a distinguished independent prize selection committee, to make these awards to candidates who embody and exemplify the spirit of excellence in education, in ways consistent with the values and ideals of the Foundation, and this year is no exception," said Foundation President Chester E. Finn, Jr. "We are privileged to honor four remarkable individuals whose tireless, intrepid and imaginative efforts have forever altered the landscape of American education. The ‘achievement gap' is now part of our common vocabulary; ‘culture' is now understood to be a key determinant of student achievement that schools can actually shape; and charter and contract schools now proliferate around the nation as part of a larger reinvention of public education. These and many other momentous developments owe much to the courage, insight, and tenacity of this year's Fordham prize winners."

The Fordham Prize for Distinguished Scholarship is conferred on "scholars who made major contributions to education reform via research, analysis, and successful engagement in the war of ideas." In 2007, it is awarded jointly to:

• Paul T. Hill, John and Marguerite Corbally Professor, Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington; Director, Center on Reinventing Public Education

Paul Hill has been fine-tuning his powers of observation since he grew up Catholic in Utah. For the better part of three decades, he has turned that laser focus to bear on education. In the course of his career, he has produced some of the most important policy works of this generation, including Reinventing Public Education: How Contract Schools Can Transform American Education. These days, Hill heads the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington. With a staff of 30, the center conducts highly respected research on charter schools, school accountability, district finance, and leadership.

To this day, he remains a hands-on researcher himself-one who wants to directly affect and improve the school system. "Some of my friends on the right are a little impatient," he explains, "with my taking the time to dig in the trenches and find the details. It takes a long time, which doesn't discourage me-I expect it."

• Abigail Thernstrom, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute; Vice-Chair of the U.S Commission on Civil Rights and Stephan Thernstrom, Winthrop Professor of History at Harvard University; Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute

As individuals, the Thernstroms each have led distinguished scholarly careers. As a couple, they've been a dynamic duo, especially on contentious issues of education and race. Despite jabs from those who value "political-correctness" over scholarly research, their first joint book, America in Black and White, One Nation Indivisible (1997), bucked the conventional wisdom, showing that the U.S. has made great strides toward racial equality in the past 50 years. No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning (2003) tackled the thorny issue of racial "culture," contending such elements largely explain why some groups trail and others excel. But theirs is no counsel of despair or determinism; they also illustrate the malleability and improvability of current performance by identifying and illuminating a host of schools that shape and reshape culture and thus help all of their students reach high levels of achievement.

"If you care about the fate of black kids, and you better care if you are concerned about racial equality, you don't pretend when you see a distinctive problem," says Abigail. "You confront it head on and try to find solutions, or at least try to walk in the right direction."

The Fordham Prize for Valor is conferred on "a leader whose groundbreaking accomplishments at the national, state, local, and/or school levels have had a tremendous impact on public education." In 2007, it is awarded to

• Kati Haycock, Director and founder, The Education Trust

Kati Haycock, founder and director of the Education Trust, first noticed academic achievement gaps when she was a college-bound high school student in southern California during the 1960's. "There were lots of Latinas in my PE classes and the restrooms, and almost none in my math and English classes," Haycock recalled. Haycock has jousted with Republicans reluctant to pour more funds into education and with Democrats leery of attempts to measure the effectiveness of teachers or the learning of students. She's supported both sides, too, when they are serious about improving the education lot of poor and minority children and those who teach them. Though a lifelong Democrat, Haycock says, "We belong to the ‘no permanent enemies, no permanent allies' school of advocacy." To Haycock, the goal-closing the achievement gap, and bringing that conversation to the national stage-is far more important than any political party affiliation. A key designer of the federal No Child Left Behind act, Haycock is even better known in the states that she travels tirelessly, bringing clear (often unprecedented) data, unmatched passion, and sage counsel to decisionmakers in whose hands lies the future of needy youngsters.

About the Fordham Prizes for Excellence in Education

The Fordham Prizes for Excellence in Education, initiated in 2002, are bestowed upon a distinguished scholar (or scholars) and a valorous practitioner or policymaker who exemplifies the Foundation's principles of education reform, including:

• Increasing student learning by setting ambitious standards; employing rigorous assessments; and holding students, teachers, and schools accountable for performance;
• Providing parents the opportunity to select among a variety of high-quality schools;
• Developing a content-rich curriculum that is taught by knowledgeable teachers in every school; and
• Ensuring that schools exist to meet the educational needs of children, not the interests of adults.

Recipients are selected by an independent seven-member prize committee comprised of scholars, journalists, and two Foundation trustees. Each award carries with it a cash amount of $25,000. In cases where awards are bestowed on more than one recipient in a category (as in distinguished scholarship in 2007), the winners split the total prize amount. More information about the prizes, as well as previous years' recipients can be found at http://www.edexcellence.net/template/page.cfm?id=251.

To contact the prizewinners, to obtain more information about them and their accomplishments, or to RSVP to the awards reception, please contact Fordham Communications Manager Jennifer Leischer at 202-223-5452 or jleischer@edexcellence.net.

Nationally and in our home state of Ohio, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation strives to close America's vexing achievement gaps by raising standards, strengthening accountability, and expanding high-quality education options for parents and families. For more information about the Foundation's work, visit http://www.edexcellence.net/.

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