The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation has announced that its third annual Fordham Prize for Excellence in Education for distinguished scholarship will be conferred upon Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Terry Moe.
The foundation also presented its prize for excellence for valor to John E. Brandl and Marion Joseph.
"We're privileged to honor three great education change agents," said foundation president Chester E. Finn, Jr. "Each is a far-sighted and tireless crusader for the interests of children, an indomitable individual who rejected conventional thinking, pointed to needed changes, suffered plenty of abuse from protectors of the status quo, and hugely advanced the cause of school reform."
The Prize for Distinguished Scholarship is awarded to a scholar who has made major contributions to education reform via research, analysis, and successful engagement in the war of ideas.
"Stanford's Terry Moe," said Finn, "the recipient of this year's award for scholarship, is one of America's foremost education analysts and thinkers, a brilliant political scientist who has helped us understand the functioning (and dysfunction) of the K–12 'delivery system' as well as the attitudes, dynamics and interest groups that shape it."
Terry Moe also is a member of the Hoover Institution's Koret Task Force on K–12 Education and a professor of political science at Stanford University.
Moe is an expert on educational policy, U.S. political institutions, and organization theory. His current research projects are concerned with school choice, public bureaucracy, and the presidency.
The Prize for Valor was awarded to Marion Joseph of California, known by some as the 'Paul Revere of Phonics' for transforming reading instruction in California, and John Brandl, a policy pioneer who insisted to fellow legislators and citizens that Minnesota's children deserve education choices.
The award is made to education leaders who made major contributions to education reform through noteworthy accomplishments at the national, state, local, and/or school levels.
About the Fordham Prizes for Excellence in Education
The Fordham Prizes were created in 2003 to recognize and reward distinguished scholars, practitioners, and policy makers who champion education reform based on these principles:
Parents should have the right to select among a variety of high-quality schools for their children;
All students, teachers, and schools can meet high standards, with the help of results-oriented accountability systems informed by rigorous assessments;
Every school should deliver a content-rich curriculum taught by knowledgeable teachers; and
Schools must serve first the educational needs of children, not the interests of institutions or adults.
The two prizes (distinguished scholarship and valor) are given annually. Each carries an award of $25,000. To read about previous years' winners, visit www.edexcellence.net and click "Fordham Prizes."
The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to research and action that advances the knowledge and reform of elementary and secondary education, both nationally and in Dayton, Ohio. The Foundation is not affiliated with Fordham University.
