Chester E. Finn Jr.
Senior Fellow

Expertise: Education policy, education reform

Click here for bio summary.

Chester E. Finn Jr. is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and chairman of the Koret Task Force on K–12 Education. He is also president and trustee of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.

Finn serves on a number of boards including K12, the Ohio Charter School Association, National Council on Teacher Quality, Charter School Leadership Council, American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence, and Philanthropy Roundtable, as well as advisory boards of the National Association of Scholars, Center of the American Experiment, and Centre for Policy Studies. From 1988 to 1996, he was a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, including two years as its chairman.

Finn was formerly a professor of education and public policy at Vanderbilt University. From 1995 through 1998, he was a senior fellow of the Hudson Institute. From 1992 through 1994, he served as founding partner and senior scholar with the Edison Project. He served as assistant secretary for research and improvement and counselor to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Education from 1985 to 1988. Earlier positions include staff assistant to the president of the United States; special assistant to the governor of Massachusetts; counsel to the American ambassador to India; and research associate in governmental studies at the Brookings Institution.

Author of 14 books, Finn's most recent is Leaving No Child Behind: Options for Kids in Failing Schools, co-edited with Frederick M. Hess. Other recent books include Rethinking Special Education for a New Century, co-edited with Andrew Rotherham and Charles Hokanson; Charter Schools in Action: Renewing Public Education, co-authored with Bruno V. Manno and Gregg Vanourek; The Educated Child: A Parent's Guide from Pre-School Through Eighth Grade, co-authored with William J. Bennett and John Cribb; and What Do Our 17-Year-Olds Know? (Harper & Row), written with Hoover Institution distinguished visiting fellow and fellow Koret Task Force member Diane Ravitch.

Finn has written more than 350 articles for such publications as the Weekly Standard, the Christian Science Monitor, the Wall Street Journal, Commentary, the Public Interest, the Washington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Harvard Business Review, the American Spectator, the Boston Globe, and the New York Times.