Former Gov. Jim Hunt Named Among Most Influential in Education
December 14, 2006
Hunt ranks with Bill Gates, U.S. Presidents, Secretaries of Education
Chapel Hill, N.C. – A study released today by the Editorial Projects in Education (EPE) Research Center has named former Gov. Jim Hunt one of the most influential people in American education. He ranked seventh on the list between former President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Education Secretary Richard Riley.
Hunt, an historic four-term governor, remains at the forefront of education across the nation. Under his leadership, the Rand Corporation reported that North Carolina public schools improved test scores more than any other state in the 1990s. Gov. Hunt then charged them to become first in America by 2010.
As governor, Hunt focused on early childhood development and improving the quality of teaching in America. His Smart Start program is a statewide, nonprofit, public-private partnership which provides quality child care, health care, and family support for every child who needs it. Smart Start has been visited and studied by early childhood leaders from all 50 states and many foreign countries. It received the prestigious Innovations in American Government Award from the Ford Foundation and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Gov. Hunt co-chaired the "Committee of 50" which led to the establishment of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. He served in that capacity for 10 years, developing standards for what accomplished teachers in America need to know and be able to do, as well as assessments to obtain board certification. Hunt also serves as the chairman of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future at Teachers College, Columbia University, as well as the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
A strong supporter of high standards in public schools, Gov. Hunt has served as chairman of the National Education Goals Panel and vice-chairman of the board of Achieve, Inc. – named one of America’s top influential organizations in this same report. In North Carolina, he put into place one of the nation's most rigorous approaches to measuring student performance, requiring mastery of promotion and graduation, and providing assistance to turn around failing schools.
Hunt currently serves as the chair of the James B. Hunt, Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy in Chapel Hill, NC. The Institute was established in 2001 to work with current and emerging political, business, and education leaders on a national level to improve public education. Through the Institute, Hunt’s continuous work with governors, and on national commissions, has helped define the country's education agenda and brought national attention and prestige to North Carolina's efforts to improve education.
For the report, “Influence: A Study of the Factors Shaping Education Policy”, leading education-policy experts were asked to identify and rate “highly influential agents” across four different categories – Studies, Organizations, People and Information Sources. Others on the “Influence” list include Bill Gates (one); President George W. Bush (two); Kati Haycock, Executive Director of the Education Trust (three); Senator Edward Kennedy (five); former President Bill Clinton (six); Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford University Professor of Education (10); and U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings (11).
“This survey and report give us a unique look at the power-brokers in American education who have shaped much of what happens in our nation’s classrooms over the last 10 years,” said Christopher Swanson, Director of the Research Center.
The full report – which describes the study’s methodology in greater detail – as well as downloadable profiles of all “influentials,” is available at www.edweek.org/rc.
For more information on Gov. Hunt and the Hunt Institute, visit www.hunt-institute.org.