Thread by @alexanderrusso

The people who defined the decade (in education) — just in case this one hasn't been done before:

Arne Duncan, Obama's 2009-2015 EdSec, who oversaw Race to the Top, SIG, all those crazy NCLB waivers, and who took the lead on Common Core.

Fun fact: I don't think I ever saw video or heard audio of Duncan's infamous 2013 "white suburban moms" comment..

Diane Ravitch, who famously switched from pro-reform to anti-, in the process becoming the unofficial head of the effort to roll back Obama-era efforts.

Here's her 2011 appearance on the Daily Show, flogging her Death and Life book:

Nikole Hannah-Jones, who single-handedly refocused education journalism on segregation, then led a new national conversation on the history and legacy of slavery.

Stephen Colbert and head booker Emily Lazar, who made The Colbert Report a major (generally pro-reform) part of the education debate in the first half of the decade.

This 2014 Common Core segment is a decent illustration:
cc.com/video-clips/ne…

Lezley McSpadden, mother of Mike Brown, who addressed dismal outcomes for kids like her son:

"Do you know how hard it was for me to get him to stay in school and graduate? You know how many black men graduate? Not many."

m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5b…

Karen Lewis, the longtime chemistry teacher who rose to head the Chicago teachers union and helped launch the current era of teacher activism. Here she is in a fiery and controversial 2011 speech. The big strike came a year later. h/t @Larryferlazzo ow.ly/ScxZ30q5CZK

@Larryferlazzo Journalist Elizabeth Green, who joined Philissa Cramer and Alan Gottlieb in creating a nonprofit education journalism network that recently announced plans to be in 18 regions by 2025. Concerned about journalism writ large, Green also helped create @JournalismProj . h/t @palan57