Today, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute is pleased to formally announce that we’re adding four new senior fellows to our team: Derrell Bradford, Jason Crye, Ian Rowe, and Erika Sanzi.
You may have spotted Derrell’s, Jason’s, and Erika’s work on Flypaper already, and you should expect to see each of them, plus Ian, writing regularly moving forward. All four bring talent, thoughtfulness, and a range of perspectives on education reform to inform our blog.
 | Derrell Bradford is the executive vice president of 50CAN: The 50-State Campaign for Achievement Now and the executive director of its New York branch, NYCAN, with more than fourteen years working in education reform policy and advocacy. In his role, Derrell trains and recruits local leaders across the country to serve as executive directors of state CANs, advocacy fellows, and citizen advocates. He is also a member of the organization’s executive and leadership teams. He serves on several boards and leadership councils that focus on educational equity, including Success Academy Charter Schools, the Partnership for Education Justice, EdBuild, and the National Alliance of Charter School Authorizers Advisory Board. |
 | Jason Crye is the executive director of Hispanics for School Choice—an advocacy organization based out of Milwaukee—that serves Hispanic and Latino families by informing them of their education options and advocating for parents’ right to choose the school that best serves their needs. Under his leadership, Hispanics for School Choice has expanded its grassroots efforts throughout Wisconsin and engaged in efforts in Texas and Illinois. Jason also writes for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. His blog, The Rattle Bag, covers a wide variety of cultural, religious, and political issues. |
 | Ian Rowe is a social entrepreneur and leader who has worked for more than twenty years in the public, private and nonprofit sectors, to effect positive change in the lives of young people worldwide. As CEO of Public Prep, he provides the strategic direction for the network of single-sex elementary and middle public schools that are determined to put their students on a path to college completion. Prior to Public Prep, Ian was the deputy director of postsecondary success at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where he worked to increase college completion rates among low income young adults. Prior to working at Gates, Ian worked for MTV as the senior vice president of strategic partnerships and public affairs. He has also worked as the director of strategy and performance measurement at the White House’s USA Freedom Corps office, formed after September eleventh to encourage every American to make a lifetime commitment in service of others. Ian was also part of Teach For America in its early days, where he helped develop a comprehensive portfolio model of assessment that measured teacher effectiveness as a function of gains in student achievement. |
 | Erika Sanzi spent a decade as a teacher and school dean before becoming a full-time education advocate based in Rhode Island, and a network member at Education Post. She also served one term as an elected school committee member. She is particularly focused on inequities in the system, persistent but surmountable achievement gaps, and what she sees as a culture of low expectations that disproportionately impacts low-income students. She is the mom of three young sons and can often be found on the sidelines of their countless sports practices and games. She is committed to the belief that zip codes don’t determine destiny, that parents deserve to choose how their children are educated and that too many “good” schools are failing in too many ways. |
Longtime readers of Flypaper know that we at Fordham rarely shy away from pointed discussion, debate, and even dissent on our blog. We’re firmly heterodox, and believe generating dialogue is critical to our role as education’s gadfly, and to the education-reform movement.
This year alone, Mike has debated Jay P. Greene on voucher accountability, and eleven choice-policy experts discussed how to leverage ESSA to expand school choice; this summer, we featured many posts on the question of race and education reform in response to a provocative piece by Robert Pondiscio.
We’ve spurred conversation, in part, by relying on voices outside of Fordham’s ranks to offer their takes on education reform as they see it—which is frequently from a vantage point different than ours. Over the last several years, Kathleen Porter Magee and Andy Smarick have ably served as writing fellows for Fordham, covering topics ranging from character education to portfolio districts. Exciting new roles for both of them, however, means they cannot contribute as regularly on Flypaper.
Yet their departures have provided an opportunity, and we’re excited to have Derrell, Jason, Ian, and Erika join us. Our goal remains the same: To offer a wide range of perspectives to examine and challenge the status quo, as well as to challenge each other. We’re eager to listen and learn from them. We hope you are, too.
