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Board of Trustees

E. D. Hirsch, Jr., Chairman

Professor Hirsch is the author of ten books, including works of scholarship on the Romantic period. His views on education reform are widely published in articles and in such acclaimed books as Cultural Literacy and The Schools We Need and Why We Don’t Have Them. He is also editor of the six-book series What Your Kindergartner–Sixth Grader Needs to Know. Don Hirsch founded the Core Knowledge Foundation in 1986.

Ted Hirsch, Vice Chairman

Assistant Principal K–12 at South Shore Charter Public School in Hull, Massachusetts; Author of the essay, "Teaching Kids to Read," a popular download in the Core Knowledge Bookstore; Frequent presenter on reading at Core Knowledge conferences

John Ballen

Currently serves on the Investment Committee of the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston)

Marion Joseph

Member of the California State Board of Education, 1997–2003; recipient of a Thomas B. Fordham Foundation Prize for Excellence in Education, the Prize for Valor.

Diane Ravitch

Research Professor of Education at New York University; Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution; former Assistant Secretary of Education

Bob J. Reid, Treasurer

Executive Director of the J. F. Maddox Foundation, Hobbs, New Mexico, since 1995; former senior executive for several health care companies, including Health Care America, Avid Healthcare, and Healthcare International

Louisa D. Spencer, Secretary

Longtime community advocate for Core Knowledge, School Board member in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and, as co-owner of a commercial orchard, employer of workers who display in striking variety the effects of schooling.

David M. Steiner

Dean of the School of Education at Hunter College

David Swanson

Trustee of Berea College; former Senior Vice President and board member, Procter & Gamble

Stephen Tomlin

Avalon Ventures; 15 years of experience in wireless technology, biotechnology, and Internet industries. Chairman, Chumby Industries; Director, Board of Intercasting Corporation; Board Observer, Vocera Communications.

Ruth Wattenberg

Editor of American Educator; previously Director of Educational Issues for the American Federation of Teachers

Dan Willingham

Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia; Columnist for American Educator

Linda Bevilacqua, President, Member Ex-Officio

Previously Vice President of the Core Knowledge Foundation and Director of the Preschool Program; Author: Preschool Sequence; Executive Director of the Learning Disabilities Council of Richmond; recipient of a Peabody School doctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University