Chester Finn

Dr. Chester E. Finn, Jr., the author of We Must Take Charge: Our Schools and Our Future, is Professor of Education and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University and Director of the Education Excellence Network.

Also, he is a Senior Fellow at the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies and serves as a consultant to Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander. He has assisted with the planning of the Bush Administration’s America 2000 education strategy.

Professor Finn serves on the President’s Education Policy Advisory Committee, the National Council on Standards and Testing and the National Assessment and Governing Board. He also is President of the Madison Center for Educational Affairs and an Adjunct Senior Fellow with the Hudson Institute.

A native of Ohio, Professor Finn holds an undergraduate degree in American history, a master’s degree in social studies education and a doctorate in education policy and administration from Harvard University.

Dr. Finn served as Assistant Secretary for Research and Improvement and Counselor to the Secretary of Education from 1985 to 1988.

The author of more than 150 articles in magazines and journals, Dr. Finn also has written the books Scholars, Dollars and Bureaucrats: What Do Our 17-Year-Olds Know? With Diane Ravitch and Challenges to the Humanities with Ravitch and P. Holley Roberts.