The Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools Review Board

A review board of prominent education experts from across the country—many of whom also serve on the review board that analyzes the school districts that are eligible for The Broad Prize for Urban Education—reviews student achievement data received from the eligible charter management organizations and their states and collected by MPR Associates, a national education research consulting firm. The review board selects the winning charter management organization.

Christopher Cross founded Cross & Joftus, LLC in 2004 to provide education leaders with personalized and expert assistance in policy analysis and development, evaluation, executive coaching, planning and communication strategies. Cross is a former senior fellow with the Center on Education Policy and with the Education Commission of the States. Previously, he served as president and CEO of the Council for Basic Education and as an assistant secretary of education under President George H.W. Bush. 

Reginald H. "Reggie" Gilyard is a partner and managing director in the Los Angeles office of The Boston Consulting Group and a lead partner in the BCG Public Education Practice. He has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics/operations research from the U.S. Air Force Academy, a master’s degree in computer systems engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. 

Jane Hannaway is vice president of the American Institutes for Research in Washington, D.C. and director of the Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), which focuses on analyses of state longitudinal student- and teacher-level administrative databases, particularly analyses associated with teacher labor markets. Hannaway previously served as founding director of the Education Policy Center at the Urban Institute and on the faculty of Columbia, Princeton and Stanford universities.

Eric "Rick" Hanushek is the Paul and Jean Hanna senior fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. Hanushek is also chairman of the executive committee for the Texas Schools Project at the University of Texas at Dallas, a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a board member of the National Board for Education Sciences. 

Frederick Hess is director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute and author of several books on schooling and education reform. Hess is also executive editor of the journal Education Next and a faculty member at institutions including the University of Pennsylvania and Rice University. 

Paul G. Pastorek is chief counsel and secretary of EADS North America. He previously served as the Louisiana state superintendent of education from 2007 to 2011. Pastorek is an attorney and was associated with the law firm of Adams and Reese for more than 27 years as a partner, litigator and corporate attorney, also serving as the managing partner of the firm’s business practice group. From 1996 to 2004, Pastorek was a member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, and was elected to three consecutive terms as board president from 2001 to 2004. 

Thomas W. Payzant is a senior lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and an advisor to and superintendent-in-residence of The Broad Superintendents Academy. From 1995 to 2006, he served as superintendent of Boston Public Schools, which won the 2006 Broad Prize after being a finalist for four years. He previously served as superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District for 11 years, as superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools for three years and as superintendent of Eugene Public Schools in Oregon for five years. In addition, Payzant served as President Bill Clinton’s assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education from 1993 to 1995. 

Nina Rees is senior vice president for strategic initiatives for Knowledge Universe, a global education company with investments in early childhood education, before- and after-school programs and online instruction. Before Knowledge Universe, Rees was the assistant deputy secretary for innovation and improvement at the U.S. Department of Education. Rees previously served as a domestic policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney. Rees has also been senior education analyst at the Heritage Foundation. 

Margot Rogers is vice chairman and senior advisor at The Parthenon Group’s Education Center of Excellence. Prior to joining Parthenon, she was chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Rogers also has served in multiple roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, including deputy director of education and the special assistant to the director of education, where she managed the development of the foundation’s college-ready education strategy and staff realignment. 

Roger Sampson is president of the Education Commission of the States, a non-partisan organization that brings together key leaders—governors, legislators, chief state school officers, higher education officials, business leaders and others—to work side-by-side to improve education. Previously, Sampson was commissioner of the Alaska State Board of Education & Early Development. Sampson has served in a variety of roles and positions in public schools in both rural and urban Alaska. 

John Simpson is an education consultant and serves as advisor to and superintendent-in-residence of The Broad Superintendents Academy and as an associate with Hazard, Young and Attea, LLC. Previously, he was senior executive and director of the District Alliance Program at the Stupski Foundation. From 1998 to 2004, Simpson served as superintendent of Norfolk Public Schools, Va., which won the 2005 Broad Prize. He previously served as superintendent of Ann Arbor Public Schools in Michigan and of North Chicago Community Unit, District 187. Simpson was also president of the Large City School Superintendents and the Horace Mann League. He serves on the board of visitors of Eastern Virginia Medical College, the accountability review council for the Recovery School District for the Louisiana Department of Education and the board of directors for The New Teacher Project. 

Kim Smith is co-founder and CEO of Bellwether Education Partners, a non-profit organization working to improve educational outcomes for low-income students. After serving as a founding team member at Teach For America, she went on to found and lead an AmeriCorps program for community-based leaders in education as well as a business start-up and worked in marketing for online learning. After completing her M.B.A. at Stanford University, she co-founded and led NewSchools Venture Fund, a venture philanthropy firm focused on transforming public education, where she helped to create a new, bipartisan, cross-sector community of entrepreneurial change agents. 

Nelson Smith is a consultant on education policy and the factors that create success in public charter schools. He recently concluded nearly seven years with the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, serving as its first president and CEO beginning in 2004 and as senior advisor in 2010-2011. Previously, Smith served as vice president for policy and governance at New American Schools, as the first executive director of the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board, and as vice president for education and workforce development at the New York City Partnership. 

Christopher B. Swanson is the vice president of Editorial Projects in Education, the nonprofit corporation that publishes Education Week. As a member of EPE’s senior leadership team, his responsibilities include project and product development, strategic planning, fundraising activities, and building relationships with other organizations working to advance American education. Swanson heads EPE’s research and development division, which includes the EPE Research Center, library, and knowledge services units, as well as Education Week Press. Swanson is a frequent commentator on a variety of issues, among them: high school dropout and completion, educational policy and research, standards and accountability, instructional reform, student mobility, and public school choice. 

Elisa Villanueva Beard is the chief operating officer at Teach For America and is responsible for building the movement in the communities of Teach For America’s 43 regions to close the achievement gap. Previously, Villanueva Beard was executive director of the organization’s Rio Grande Valley site and later senior vice president of regional operations. Villanueva Beard was a 1998 Teach For America corps member who taught bilingual first and second grades in Phoenix for three years. 

Gene Wilhoit is executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers. He previously led two state education agencies, as director of the Arkansas Department of Education and as deputy commissioner and commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Education. He also served as a program director in the Indiana Department of Education, as an administrator in Kanawha County, W.Va., and as a special assistant in the U.S. Department of Education before assuming the position of executive director of the National Association of State Boards of Education, which he held from 1986 to 1993. Wilhoit began his career as a social studies teacher in Ohio and Indiana. 

Priscilla Wohlstetter is a visiting professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she also serves as senior researcher with the Consortium for Policy Research in Education. Her permanent appointment is at the University of Southern California, where she is the Diane and MacDonald Becket Professor of Educational Policy and the founder and director of USC’s Center on Educational Governance. An important strand of her research has focused on charter schools in the areas of accountability, governance and management, and public-private partnerships. She is also a member of the advisory board of the National Charter School Research Project at the Center for Reinventing Public Education.