Chester E. Finn Jr. has been involved in national education for 35 years. Currently, Finn serves as president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and is senior editor of Education Next. He is also a senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and chairman of Hoover’s Koret Task Force on K-12 education. Previously, he served as a professor of education and public policy at Vanderbilt University, counsel to the U.S. ambassador to India, legislative director for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and assistant U.S. secretary of education for research and improvement. He holds a doctorate from Harvard in education policy.
The author of 19 books and more than 400 articles, Finn’s work has appeared in The Weekly Standard, Christian Science Monitor, Commentary, The Public Interest, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, Education Week, Harvard Business Review, and The Boston Globe. Finn is the recipient of awards from the Educational Press Association of America, Choice magazine, the Education Writers Association, and the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. He holds an honorary doctorate from Colgate University. He and his wife, Renu Virmani, a physician, have two grown children and three granddaughters. They live in Chevy Chase MD.
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Why Private Schools Are Dying Out
A few elite institutions at both the grade-school and college levels are doing better than ever. But their health conceals the collapse of private-sector options in the U.S.
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Gifted Students Have 'Special Needs,' Too
It's not elitist to pour more resources into educating our brightest kids. In fact, the future of the country may depend on it.
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Why School Principals Need More Authority
Under the current system, educational leaders have all of the responsibility but none of the power. Allowing principals to act like CEOs may foster a more efficient system.