livefromhooverdc_banner_v2.jpg

In their book, Failing Our Brightest Kids, Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Brandon L. Wright argue that America’s efforts to educate high-ability students have fallen dramatically short. This is especially true for talented low-income youngsters, who too often miss out on the opportunity to develop their talents.

The Hoover Institution in Washington, D.C. hosted a discussion of how this problem has arisen, what keeps it from being solved, how other countries try to solve it, and the changes needed to ensure that America’s ablest young people are prepared to reach their full potential on October 26, 2016.
 
Handout from the eventfailing-brightest-finn.jpg
Failing Our Brightest Kids by Chester E. Finn and Brandon L. Wright
 
Panelists:
Harold Levy
Executive Director, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation 
 
Jack R. Smith, Ph.D.
Maryland Interim State Superintendent of Schools
 
Brother Brian Carty, FSC
President and Teacher, De La Salle Academy 

Brandon L. Wright
Managing Editor, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Co-author, Failing Our Brightest Kids 

Moderator:
Chester E. Finn, Jr.
President Emeritus, Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Co-author, Failing Our Brightest Kids

 

 

A video of the event is below

Upcoming Events

Thursday, November 12, 2026 4:30 PM PT
250_Graphic-Nov.png
25 Years After 9/11: The History And Future Of Surveillance, Technology, And Democracy
How does a free society use increasingly powerful technologies to protect itself without compromising the freedoms it exists to protect? Register To… Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Tuesday, November 17, 2026
Rural America
Symposium On Domestic Rural Life And Institutions
Rural America encompasses diverse communities and experiences, shaped by a wide range of political, economic, social, and environmental forces. 
Tuesday, November 17, 2026
Ideas Uncorked | The Billionaire Tax Act: From California to Capitol Hill
Ideas Uncorked | The Billionaire Tax Act: From California To Capitol Hill
The Hoover Institution in DC hosts Ideas Uncorked: The Billionaire Tax Act: From California to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, November 17 from 5:00-6:30 pm… Hoover Institution in DC
overlay image