Jeanne Allen is the Founder and President of the Center for Education Reform (CER), a Washington, DC based organization driving the creation of better educational opportunities for all children by leading parents, policymakers and the media in boldly advocating for school choice, advancing the charter school movement, and challenging the education establishment.

Co-author of "The School Reform Handbook: How to Improve Your Schools" (1995), Jeanne is recognized as one of the country's leading education experts. She appears frequently on national television and radio programs, and can often be found in the pages of the nation's most influential newspapers and magazines.

Jeanne is the mother of four school-age children, Johnny, Teddy, Anthony, and Mary Monica and is married to Dr. Kevin L. Strother.

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January 2007 


Education Reform Action Heroes: Results

A recent story in Education Week covering a "study" to determine who are the "influence leaders in education policy" piqued our interest. As it turned out, as is the case with most popularity contests, influence, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder. Nominees for the short list, solicited from a relative, and anonymous, handful of "influence leaders," included some obscure and even defunct groups, the usual inside-the-beltway bureaucrats and policy wonks, and, or course, a US president or two. Winners, also tapped by this mystery influence committee, were headed up by Bill Gates (when does the world's richest man not come out in the top ten?). In the end, it all seemed just a little bit self-congratulatory, just a little bit inside baseball, and ultimately focused more on sizzle than substance. But after all, influence is not the same thing as improvement.

We believe that the real movers and shakers, changing things one law, one school, one textbook at a time, are YOU. So in early January 2007, The Center for Education Reform (CER) invited parents, educators, community members and education reform advocates to let us know who has been a significant influence in helping achieve education improvements at the local level, where the real battles rage. Rather than conducting a popularity contest wrapped in a commissioned study, we wanted an opportunity to learn – and share – the stories of people who are truly making a difference for schools and students.

The response was tremendous, and CER thanks all those who sent us their stories. We salute all those folks beyond the Beltway who have written laws on the back of a napkin, worked tirelessly to persuade lawmakers to pass those laws, created schools, written standards, and generally challenged the conventional wisdom in the interest of making schools work better for all children.

The stories of the individuals and organizations below (presented in alphabetically order) chronicle the inspiring and noteworthy achievements of some real action heroes. (Click on the names below for individual profiles, or click here for click here for the full list with brief profiles.)

Robert B. Aguirre
Carole Andrews
Simon Campbell
Fred Crawford
Regine P. Ebner, M. Ed.
Liz Evans
Dr. Randy Everett
Tony Gerlicz
Matthew and Katherine Ginnetty
Michael Goldstein
Scott Gordon
Charlotte Greenbarg
Craig Henderson
Wayne Jennings
Ronald E. Johnson, Ph.D.
Peter Kast
Kumon North America
Liberty Common Founders and Board of Directors
Thomas Lubben, Ed.D.
Mike Maxwell
Dan McKinley
Julie Merendino
Linda Moore
Mueller Charter School Teachers
Jim Murphy
Cindy Omlin
Ron Packard
Rick Piercy
Jack Podsiadlo, S.J.
Laura B. Prado
Joseph H. G. Proietta
Dan Quisenberry
Ridgeview Classical Schools Founders and Board of Directors
Kevin W. Riley, Ed.D.
Michaeline Schaffer
Brother Ed Siderewicz
Raymond L. Smart
Debbie Smith
Diane Tavenner
Washington Core Founders


© Copyright 2008, The Center for Education Reform