Linda Darling-Hammond

Focuses on issues of school reform, teaching quality and educational equity as Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford, where she has launched the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education and the School Redesign Network. Former president of the American Educational Research Association and member of the executive board of the National Academy of Education. Leader in the standards movement, previously chairing both the New York State Curriculum and Assessment Council and the Interstate New Teachers Support and Assessment Council. She began her career as a public school teacher and has co-founded a preschool and day care center as well as a public high school. She has worked with countless schools and districts on studying, developing, and scaling up new model schools and has advised many states and professional organizations on creating policies to support school and teaching quality, student and teacher assessment practices, and educational equity. Darling-Hammond received her B.A. (magna cum laude) from Yale University in 1973, and her Ed.D. in Urban Education (with highest distinction) from Temple University in 1978.