Who's Who in Education Policy: A Primer by Christopher Swanson

Thank you, Christopher Swanson, for identifying the movers and shakers in US education policy in Influence: A Study of the Factors Shaping Education Policy. Swanson asked leading education policy experts to identify and rate highly influential agents or “Influentials” across four different categories – Studies, Organizations, People, and Information Sources. Topping the list of studies was the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), while the US Congress, US Department of Education, and the Gates Foundation were top contenders in the Organizations category. Top-ranked person? Bill Gates, of course, who kept company in the People category with Mike Smith of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Chester Finn, Jr., of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, and Kati Haycock of the highly influential Education Trust. NAEP took the top spot in the most influential information source, followed by Education Week. Other information sources viewed as influential include the New York Times, the Washington Post, Public Education Network’s PEN Weekly NewsBlast, the Fordham Foundation’s Education Gadfly, and Eduwonk.