Appendix B: Acknowledgments
Academy staff began scoping a project about opportunities after high school in early 2023 and appreciate the following individuals, who contributed their expertise and guidance in discussions that ultimately shaped the direction of this Commission: Jamaal Abdul-Alim, Lauren Andersen, Abdullah Antepli, David Autor, Robert Berretta, Anthony Carnevale, BJ Casey, Ana Mari Cauce, Lynn Chang, Kerwin Charles, Gerald Chertavian, Carl Cohn, Camille Colatosti, Peggy Combs, Keith Curry, David Deming, Byron Ernest, Paul Fain, Dreama Gentry, Emma Goldberg, Judith Hamera, David Harding, Enrique Hernandez, Anya Kamenetz, Paula Kerger, Nicholas Kristof, Carol Lee, K. Tsianina Lomawaima, Gail Mellow, Michele Moody-Adams, Joseph Neubauer, Zainab Okolo, Seth Pollack, Anthony Pinn, Alissa Quart, Joanna Rosenthal, Marinell Rousmaniere, Janelle Scott, David Soo, Arun Sundararajan, Precious Waldron-López, Mark Warren, Ruth Watkins, David Wilson, James Winnefeld, Jr., and James Winnefeld, III.
The Academy’s Education Advisory Committee also provided guidance throughout the Commission’s work: Deborah Loewenberg Ball, Joanne Berger-Sweeney, John DeGioia, Greg Duncan, Joan Gabel, Kris Gutierrez, Nicholas Lemann, Susanna Loeb, Michael Lomax, John Mitchell, Na’ilah Suad Nasir, Francesca Purcell, Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, and David Weinstein.
We also thank the following early career scholars, who authored reference papers that informed the Commission’s initial discussions: Julian Hayes, Salman Khan, and Elizabeth Salinas.
Following the launch of the Commission in May 2024, we benefited from the generosity of many people whose experiences, ideas, and candor shaped this report and the Commission’s broader body of work. We thank the roughly three hundred individuals who participated in our listening sessions, generously sharing about their educational and career experiences, their personal aspirations, and ideas to improve the institutions they lead. Listening sessions were held in California, Colorado, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington, D.C. Our thanks to the administrators and staff who facilitated the listening sessions at public high schools, career academies, adult learning centers, community colleges, public and private four-year universities, technical colleges, a historically Black university, and a tribal college, and to Molly Martin for facilitating some of the sessions.
Additional thanks to the many colleagues and partners who participated in our expert roundtables and provided feedback on early frameworks, recommendations, and suggestions of promising practices for the Commission to include in this report and on the accompanying microsite: Jon Alfuth, Frank Avery, Mike Bartlett, Jared Bass, Jinann Bitar, Scott Carlson, Ben Cecil, Milagro Chavez-Cisneros, Kathy Chow, Jeff Connor-Naylor, Nathan Driskell, Austin Estes, Chibuzo Ezeigbo, Aaron Fettgather, Beth Frerking, Adam Gamoran, Tara García Mathewson, Seth Gerson, Jason Gonzales, Sarah Gonzalez, Marjorie Hass, Sara Hebel, Dan Hinderliter, Cheryl Jones-Walker, Shalin Jyotishi, Ryan Kelsey, Anne Kim, Daniel Knox, Alexander Mayer, Jesse O’Connell, Celina Pierrottet, Tim Powers, Portia Pratt, Jaunelle Pratt-Williams, Autumn Rivera, Christina Samuels, Harriette Scott, Judy Scott-Clayton, Christina Sedney, Andrew Smalley, Tristan Stein, Jeff Strohl, Na’ilah Suad Nasir, Paul Tough, Kevin Velasco, Mary Ann Villarreal, Mamie Voight, Carrie Warick-Smith, Jeff Wasden, Nick Watson, Chuck Welsh, Taylor White, and Christina Whitfield.
We also thank our partners in creating the products that accompany this publication: Moth + Pod, who designed and built the Commission microsite, respectively; Shirah Hecht for interviewing program leaders and drafting the in-depth implementation stories; and Erin Ross for researching and drafting many of the promising practice profiles.
Finally, we are grateful to our reviewers, including Kelsey Ensign, whose thoughtful insights helped us identify many opportunities to strengthen the report.