This material is taken directly from the Fordham Foundation's website at
The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation supports research, publications, and action projects of national significance in elementary/secondary education reform, as well as significant education reform projects in Dayton, Ohio and vicinity. It has assumed the work of the Educational Excellence Network and is affiliated with the Manhattan Institute. (The Foundation is neither connected with nor sponsored by Fordham University.)
In November 1996, the Board invited a nationally-known education reformer and scholar, Chester E. Finn, Jr., to become the Foundation's president and chief executive officer. At that time, the Foundation also assumed primary sponsorship of the Educational Excellence Network (EEN), a fifteen-year-old umbrella organization for the promotion of sound education reforms and the dissemination of reliable information and ideas about education. Founded by Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Diane Ravitch in 1981, it has long advocated high standards, strong academic content and tough-minded accountability. EEN also welcomes the "reinvention" of K-12 education to include such alternatives as charter schools, contract-management, student scholarships and other strategies for stimulating more education choices, greater competition and real consumer empowerment.
The Foundation's work in education seeks to advance understanding and acceptance of effective reform strategies that incorporate the following principles, long associated with the Educational Excellence Network:
* The need for dramatically higher academic standards.
* An education system designed for and responsive to its consumers.
* Verifiable outcomes and accountability.
* Equality of opportunity
* A solid core curriculum.
* Educational diversity, competition, and choice.
* Knowledgeable, capable, and professional teachers.
* The dissemination of sound research and candid public information about school performance.