Author

Bill Tucker

Tucker is managing director of of Education Sector and is responsible for managing its day-to-day operations, including oversight for all administrative, human resources, financial, legal, communications, strategic planning, and program functions. In his policy work for Education Sector, he focuses on technology and innovation–specifically virtual schooling, assessments, and data systems. Tucker is a social entrepreneur who has founded and led both nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies. His expertise ranges from finance to strategic development and technology, he has extensive knowledge of the nonprofit sector, and he has led the growth of several organizations; in 2000, he co-founded SmarterOrg, Inc, an e-learning company, and sold it in 2002 to the Isoph Corporation, a provider of specialized e-learning software, services, and content development. Through 2005 he served as Isoph’s chief knowledge officer, co-managing the company’s operations and advising organizations such as the American Red Cross, the Land Trust Alliance, and the National Wildlife Federation on organizational learning strategies and business models. Prior to graduate school, Tucker managed the training, conference, and publishing operations at CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, the nation’s largest provider of management and technical training to nonprofit organizations.

Published Articles & Media

  • Digital Textbooks, OER, and More from Digital Learning Day
    What’s most important to understand about the digital textbook effort is that it’s an opportunity to open up a large amount of existing public money that has been locked into use by a very small and closed set of publishers.
  • The Country’s Most Ambitious Digital Learning Project
    While it’s easy to think of the consortia as “building tests,” the more apt description is that they are attempting to re-invent, with heavy use of technology, the entire process of assessment.
  • Understanding the Economics of Online Learning
    The Costs of Online Learning, the latest in Fordham’s digital learning policy series, tackles the tricky question of per-pupil spending. And while the paper cannot offer definitive answers for policymakers and school leaders, it does provide a helpful primer on the overall economics of online and blended learning.
  • New Data Quality Campaign Report: The Hard Work Remains
    The whole point of collecting all of this information — and DQC is clear that they mean much more than just test scores — is to use it to inform inquiry, human judgment, and decision-making. DQC’s new report, Data for Action 2011, shows that states still struggle to actually use this information effectively.
  • Six Insights from New NCES Data on K-12 Distance Education
    New 2009-10 school year survey data from the National Center for Education Statistics confirms the rapid growth of K-12 technology-based distance education enrollments.
  • Why Stanford Online High School Matters (and two ways it could matter more)
    Sunday’s New York Times story broke the news that Stanford University, one of the world’s most prestigious research institutions, is putting its brand squarely behind a full-time, degree-granting online high school program. It’s just one more reason to set aside the silly debate about whether online education can possibly be effective for high school students.
  • The Nation’s Online Learning Omission
    The Nation’s recent online learning expose, How Online Learning Companies Bought America’s Schools, in its zeal to connect various dots into a narrative of a corporate public education takeover, makes critical errors. It falsely equates K-12 online learning with privatization, leading to an incomplete and flawed political analysis. More importantly though, the article makes a credibility-killing factual omission.
  • Rhode Island’s Landmark Pension Reform
    Last night, by overwhelming margins, the Rhode Island legislature passed what may be the nation’s most comprehensive state public employee pension reform ever.
  • Review of New Fordham Digital Learning Papers
    Teachers in the Age of Digital Instruction and School Finance in the Digital-Learning Era, two new working papers in the Fordham Institute’s series on digital learning, are welcome additions to the often narrow debates around online learning.

Learn More About Our Authors

Member Since 2009

Member Since 2009

Member Since 2009

Member Since 2011

Member Since 2014

Member Since 2016

NEWSLETTER

Notify Me When Education Next

Posts a Big Story

Business + Editorial Office

Program on Education Policy and Governance
Harvard Kennedy School
79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone (617) 496-5488
Fax (617) 496-4428
Email Education_Next@hks.harvard.edu

For subscription service to the printed journal
Phone (617) 496-5488
Email subscriptions@educationnext.org

Copyright © 2024 President & Fellows of Harvard College