Teaching Talent A Visionary Framework for Human Capital in Education

Rachel E. Curtis works with school systems, foundations, higher education, and education policy organizations on district improvement strategy; leadership development; and efforts to make teaching a compelling and rewarding career. Her clients include the Aspen Institute, the Broad Center for the Management of School Systems, the Executive Leadership Program for Educators at Harvard University, and a variety of traditional and charter school systems. Curtis worked for the Boston Public Schools for eleven years, during which time she devised the district’s instructional coaching model for literacy and math, developed a data-driven school planning process, founded the School Leadership Institute, developed teaching standards and a new teacher induction program, and oversaw professional development for all teachers and school administrators. Her publications include: Strategy in Action: How School Systems Can Support Powerful Learning and Teaching (Harvard Education Press, 2009), The Skillful Leader II: Confronting Conditions that Undermine Learning (Ready About Press, 2008), Ensuring the Support and Development of New Teachers in the Boston Public Schools (Boston Public Schools, 2006), Preparing Non-Principal Administrators to Foster Whole-School Improvement in Boston (Boston Public Schools, 2005), and Professional Development Spending in the Boston Public Schools (Boston Public Schools, 2005). She holds a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Judy Wurtzel was, at the time she coedited this volume, the codirector of the Aspen Institute education and society program, which provides a forum for education practitioners, researchers, and policy leaders to reflect on efforts to improve student achievement and to consider how public policy changes can affect progress. In May 2009, she was named deputy assistant secretary for planning, evaluation, and policy development at the U.S. Department of Education. The Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development (OPEPD) coordinates the department’s policy and budget activities. Prior to joining the Aspen Institute, Wurtzel was executive director of the Learning First Alliance, a permanent partnership of twelve national education associations with more than 10 million members. Wurtzel also served as a senior adviser at the U.S. Department of Education during the Clinton administration, working on a wide range of elementary and secondary education issues, including the reauthorizations of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Wurtzel started her career as an attorney, working as a law clerk to Dolores Sloviter, judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and to Barbara Crabb, chief judge for the Western District of Wisconsin, and then in private practice. She also taught English in a Moroccan high school as a Peace Corps volunteer. She holds a JD from New York University.