Rick Hess

Rick Hess

Board Member

Senior Fellow & Director, American Enterprise Institute

As the resident scholar and director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, Rick Hess studies a range of K-12 and higher education issues. As an educator and political scientist, Rick has authored influential books such as Common Sense School Reform, Revolution at the Margins, and Spinning Wheels. He is also the author of the popular Education Week blog, “Rick Hess Straight Up.”

Rick also serves as the executive editor of Education Next, is a faculty associate with Harvard’s Program on Education Policy and Governance, and sits on the review board for the Broad Prize in Urban Education.


Most Recent Posts
NACSA statement on recent decision in Oklahoma about religious charter schools
NACSA is disappointed in the recent decision by a federal judge in Oklahoma, allowing The Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation to continue with plans to open a religious charter...
Public charter schools are not religious schools
In 2025, a divided U.S. Supreme Court preserved an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that blocked the application for what could have become the country’s first religious charter school, St. Isidore of Seville...
Communities want unique and innovative schools. Are authorizers ready?
By Jay Whalen From their inception, public charter schools promised to provide innovative ways to meet the students’ learning needs. At NACSA, we’re invested in helping authorizers be responsive to those needs, to ensure that...