The common ground edition

President, Thomas B. Fordham Institute

Michael J. Petrilli is president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, executive editor of Education Next, editor in chief of the…

Alyssa Schwenk is the director of external relations at the Fordham Institute, where she leads Fordham’s outreach and messaging to outside audiences, including the media, policymakers, others in the education-policy sphere, and the funding community. Alyssa started her education career at a Ward 5 D.C. charter school via Teach For America, where she learned that everything important in life can be learned in…

David Griffith is Associate Director of Research at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, where he manages or authors reports on various subjects including charter schools, …

Clara Allen is the Development and Staff Assistant at the Fordham Institute, where she assists with grant-writing initiatives, contributes to the operations team and manages Fordham's events. Prior to joining Fordham, she graduated cum laude from Davidson College with a bachelor of science in psychology and a minor in educational studies. She has experience working in various development capacities with the American…