Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Encyclopedia
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and Dayton, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
. Its stated mission is "to close America's vexing achievement gaps by raising standards, strengthening accountability, and expanding education options for parents and families."
The institute's namesake was a businessman and civic leader in Dayton, Ohio. His widow established the foundation in 1959 to support a wide range of causes in the Dayton area. In 1996, the institute narrowed its focus to education under the leadership of Chester E. Finn, Jr.
Chester E. Finn, Jr.
Chester Evans Finn, Jr., is a former professor of education, an educational policy analyst, and a former United States Assistant Secretary of Education. He is currently the president of the nonprofit Thomas B. Fordham Foundation in Washington, D.C...
The foundation now has offices in both Dayton and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
The institute releases its weekly e-bulletin, the Education Gadfly, every Thursday. The Gadfly provides commentary on the latest developments and research in education policy
Education policy
Education policy refers to the collection of laws and rules that govern the operation of education systems.Education occurs in many forms for many purposes through many institutions. Examples include early childhood education, kindergarten through to 12th grade, two and four year colleges or...
. In April 2006, the Gadfly editors launched the Education Gadfly Show podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
, which features Fordham vice president Michael J. Petrilli and American Enterprise Institute scholar Frederick M. Hess. The institute also hosts a popular blog, Flypaper, which it launched in February 2008.
Between 2003 and 2007, the institute gave two prizes for excellence in education.http://www.edexcellence.net/foundation/global/page.cfm?id=29 The first, for distinguished scholarship, recognized individuals whose research had furthered the cause of education reform. The second, for valor, recognized leaders whose actions had had a noticeable impact on public education. Winners of the scholarship award were Paul E. Peterson
Paul E. Peterson
Paul E. Peterson is a leading scholar on education reform. His work has largely focused on the importance of parental choice for improving school outcomes. He is Editor-In-Chief of Education Next, an educational policy journal designed to bring a balanced perspective on research and policy...
, Anthony Bryk, Eric Hanushek
Eric Hanushek
Eric Alan Hanushek is a Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. He is also an expert on educational policy. His main area of interest is the economics of education, focusing on controversial areas of education policy including the class size reduction,...
, Terry Moe, Caroline Hoxby
Caroline Hoxby
Caroline Minter Hoxby is a labor and public economist whose research focuses on issues in education and local public economics. Currently, she is the Scott and Donya Bommer Professor in Economics at Stanford and director of the Economics of Education Program for the National Bureau of Economic...
, Paul T. Hill, Stephan Thernstrom
Stephan Thernstrom
Stephan Thernstrom is the Winthrop Research Professor of History at Harvard University. and was the editor of the Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups ....
, and Abigail Thernstrom
Abigail Thernstrom
Abigail Thernstrom, a conservative political scientist, is a former Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute in New York, a member of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and vice chair of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. She received her Ph.D...
. Winners of the valor award were E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Howard Fuller, Marion Joseph, Michael Feinberg, David Levin
David Levin
David Levin is a British businessman and CEO of UBM plc.As a child, Levin lived in Harare, Zimbabwe. His father was a political journalist, and when Levin was two, the family were given a day to leave the country in 1965. In consequence he has expressed his gratitude to the opportunities given him...
, and Kati Haycock.
The Fordham Institute is not connected with Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
.