ABSTRACT
Linda Darling-Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University School of Education and Executive Director of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future is without a doubt the most influential educational policy-maker and educational reformer in the United States. As a graduate student at Temple University with a major in Urban Education, Darling found a mentor in Professor Bernard Watson. After working on a School Finance Reform Project for the National Urban Coalition, Darling-Hammond became a social scientist and policy researcher at the Rand Corporation, a well-known prestigious think tank. With Ann Lieberman, she created the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching at Teachers College. The organization was founded to create and understand new structures for policy development and professional development by linking together school reformers and reform organizations, documenting promising new practices and disseminating this knowledge.
