John E. Chubb, a distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, a member of Hoover’s K–12 Education Task Force, and the president of the National Association of Independent Schools, died on November 12, 2015. He was also a founder of EdisonLearning, a company that partners with public school districts and charter school boards nationwide to provide innovative schools and education programs with a focus on disadvantaged students.
STATEMENT FROM HOOVER DIRECTOR TOM GILLIGAN
"Our hearts are heavy with the news of John Chubb's passing. John spent his life dedicated to making our nation's schools better for our kids, and he will be remembered always for his extraordinary work in education reform. Angela and his family are in our thoughts and prayers during this trying time."
John Chubb on Equality and Technology in 2030
“The achievement gap is not quite a thing of the past in 2030. But African American students are now achieving at levels approaching those of white students in the late twentieth century. All but 10 percent are graduating from high school; 25 percent are completing college. Public schools in the inner city have improved sharply, through twenty-first-century innovations: sophisticated technology and better teachers. Follow that progress through the story of Rasheed, an impoverished Philadelphian who faced long odds at birth but just graduated from the University of Pennsylvania.” PDF | View related video
Chubb dedicated his career to examining issues to improve education, school leaders, and education policies.
Chubb’s most recent book is The Best Teachers in the World: Why We Don’t Have Them and How We Could (Hoover Institution Press 2012/Book Video). He is the author of several other books, including Liberating Learning and Politics, Markets, and America’s Schools, coauthored with Hoover Institution senior fellow and fellow K–12 Education Task Force member Terry M. Moe, and Learning from No Child Left Behind. Chubb also edited Within Our Reach: How America Can Educate Every Child, an assessment by the Koret Task Force. His book Politics, Markets, and America’s Schools, which analyzes five hundred public and private high schools using data gathered from more than twenty thousand students, teachers, and principals, argues that free-market principles should become part of the US education system. Chubb also coedited Can the Government Govern? with Hoover Institution senior fellow and fellow K–12 Education Task Force member Paul E. Peterson.
A few of the recent articles by Chubb are below:
- “It May Be Harder to Become a Transformational Leader Than to Get into Harvard”
- “The Best Teachers in the World”
- “A Smarter Way to Grade State's High Schools”
- “Higher Education's Online Revolution”
John was a wonderful colleague and friend and is and will be greatly missed.
Remembering John Chubb
R.I.P. John Chubb, by Chester E Finn, Jr.
"John Chubb was not only a fine scholar, tireless education reformer, and creative innovator. He was also my friend and colleague for more than two decades... He died way too young, with so much still to do and contribute. But he had already done and contributed more than we ordinarily see from two or three (or four or five) people. What a huge loss to American education, as well as to his friends and family." (read more)
A Tribute to John Chubb, by Terry M. Moe
"John Chubb passed away on November 12, 2015, after a valiant struggle with cancer. I am at a loss for words. I suppose I should start with the obvious: that with his passing the nation lost a pioneer in education reform, someone who, for a quarter century, fought hard for change, innovation, and improvement in America’s schools. This is a true statement, and an important one. I think it does a decent job of capturing, at least at a very general level, what John will be most known for in the decades ahead as people reflect on the history of the education reform movement and its prime movers. He had a real impact on this world. He made waves. He was unafraid. He was a leader. But he was also much more than that, and I fear that nothing I say here can do him justice." (read more)
