Member Since 2009


Paul E. Peterson is the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government and Director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Senior Editor of Education Next, a journal of opinion and research. Peterson is a former director of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and of the Governmental Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. He received his Ph. D. in political science from the University of Chicago. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Education, and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the German Marshall Foundation, and the Center for Study in the Behavioral Sciences. He is the author of the book, Saving Schools: From Horace Mann to Virtual Learning (Harvard University Press, 2010). Peterson was a member of the independent review panel advising the Department of Education’s evaluation of the No Child Left Behind law and a member of the Hoover Institution’s Koret Task Force of K-12 Education at Stanford University. The Editorial Projects in Education Research Center reported that Peterson’s studies on school choice and vouchers have been among the country’s most influential studies of education policy.

Published Articles & Media

If Only Obama Had Made Himself the Education President. . .

Even more than the current presidential approval rating of 48 percent, Republican Senator-elect Scott Brown’s morning-after celebration just one year to the day after Barack Obama took the oath of office tells us that something has gone wrong with the President's governing strategy.

How Much Teacher Unions Spend in Your State

Teacher unions are quietly undermining charter and merit pay legislation that is supposed to help states “race to the top.” To exercise such power, a hefty cash box comes in handy.

New York Times on the Wall Street Journal: The Stove Pot Calling the Mixing Bowl Black

In what is certain to be the top hilarity story of the week, New York Times columnist David Carr “thoughtfully” reveals what he sees as the drift to the right on the part of his company’s great rival, the Wall Street Journal.

Technological Innovation is Our Best and Final Hope for Saving High Quality Math and Science Education

More than half of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are immigrants, wrote Paul Kedrosky and Brad Feld in a Wall Street Journal editorial last Wednesday. Kedrosky and Feld cite this fact to argue that visas for talented foreigners are desperately needed to sustain the growth sectors in the American economy. Their point is well taken, but the fix is only short term. The United States needs to begin growing its own creative talent by educating the best of our young people in science, math, and cognitive science skills from an early age.

Is the Decline of the Mainstream Press Bad for Education?

Education is the top in only 1.4 percent of news coverage by television, radio, newspapers and news web sites, a report issued by the Brookings Institution tells us. Should we be distressed? Perhaps, but we shouldn’t be surprised.

Race to the Top Versus the Money Chase

The National Education Association (and its local affiliates) gave $56.3 million dollars to state and federal election campaigns in 2007 and 2008, more than any other entity. The much smaller American Federation of Teachers tossed in another $12 million dollars into political campaigns. This enormous cash nexus that swamps anything any business entity has contributed creates a huge problem for Arne Duncan.

Stimulating Stagnation in Education

According to a New York Times report, the Obama Administration admits that over half of the jobs it created or saved by its stimulus package were in the field of education. Had that money really been spent in ways to promote educational productivity, it would have been faithful to the investment goals of the stimulus package.

Few States Set World-Class Standards

In fact, most render the notion of proficiency meaningless

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