Meet our frequent opinion writers and what they write about
Education Week Opinion welcomes commentary from a range of perspectives within the K-12 education community. The following individuals with various roles in education regularly offer their insight and reflections on the field.
Our current bloggers (Peter DeWitt, Larry Ferlazzo, Rick Hess, and Michael Nelson) curate their own content under their respective Education Week Opinion blogs. While their blogs are lightly moderated by the Education Week Opinion team, the opinions expressed in their posts are strictly those of the bloggers and do not reflect the opinions or endorsements of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.
Our frequent opinion contributors (Sharif El-Mekki, S. Kambar Khoshaba, Bettina L. Love, and Jherine Wilkerson) write essays for Education Week Opinion. Though the views in the essays are also their own, contributors’ essays are reviewed and edited by the Education Week Opinion team.
Continue reading for more information about who they are and what they write about.
Peter DeWitt
Peter DeWitt offers insights and advice for education leaders in the Finding Common Ground Education Week Opinion blog with Michael Nelson.
DeWitt is a former public school teacher and principal and the founder and CEO of the Instructional Leadership Collective. He now facilitates professional learning in the United States and abroad and is the author of many bestselling educational books, including Leading With Intention (Corwin, 2024), which he co-authored with Michael Nelson.
DeWitt also moderates Education Week’s A Seat at the Table, a live, online video conversation and webinar which features experts in the field.
DeWitt is a former public school teacher and principal and the founder and CEO of the Instructional Leadership Collective. He now facilitates professional learning in the United States and abroad and is the author of many bestselling educational books, including Leading With Intention (Corwin, 2024), which he co-authored with Michael Nelson.
DeWitt also moderates Education Week’s A Seat at the Table, a live, online video conversation and webinar which features experts in the field.
Sharif El-Mekki
Sharif El-Mekki regularly writes opinion essays on school leadership for Education Week Opinion, including for The Principal Is In biweekly advice column.
He taught and was an administrator in three schools serving West Philadelphia across his 27-year career. El-Mekki is the founder of the Center for Black Educator Development and The Fellowship: Black Male Educators for Social Justice and helped launch Philly’s 7th Ward blog and the 8 Black Hands podcast.
He taught and was an administrator in three schools serving West Philadelphia across his 27-year career. El-Mekki is the founder of the Center for Black Educator Development and The Fellowship: Black Male Educators for Social Justice and helped launch Philly’s 7th Ward blog and the 8 Black Hands podcast.
Larry Ferlazzo
Larry Ferlazzo hosts the Education Week Opinion blog, Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo, where he solicits and curates educators’ responses to questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other challenges teachers face.
Ferlazzo is an award-winning English and social studies teacher at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif., and the author or editor of 12 books, includingThe Student Motivation Handbook (Routledge, 2023) and The ELL Teacher’s Toolbox (Wiley, 2018). He also maintains the popular Websites of the Day blog.
Ferlazzo is an award-winning English and social studies teacher at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif., and the author or editor of 12 books, includingThe Student Motivation Handbook (Routledge, 2023) and The ELL Teacher’s Toolbox (Wiley, 2018). He also maintains the popular Websites of the Day blog.
Rick Hess
Rick Hess offers discusses matters of policy, politics, research, and reform in opinion essays and on the Education Week Opinion blog, Rick Hess Straight Up.
The director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute think tank (AEI), Hess is the author of many books, including Getting Education Right: A Conservative Vision for Improving Early Childhood, K–12, and College (Teachers College Press, 2024), which he co-authored with Michael Q. McShane, and A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K–12 Education (Teachers College Press, 2021), which he co-authored with Pedro A. Noguera.
In addition to his work in the realm of policy, he has taught high school and college.
The director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute think tank (AEI), Hess is the author of many books, including Getting Education Right: A Conservative Vision for Improving Early Childhood, K–12, and College (Teachers College Press, 2024), which he co-authored with Michael Q. McShane, and A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K–12 Education (Teachers College Press, 2021), which he co-authored with Pedro A. Noguera.
In addition to his work in the realm of policy, he has taught high school and college.
S. Kambar Khoshaba
S. Kambar Khoshaba regularly writes about school leadership in opinion essays for Education Week Opinion, including for The Principal Is In biweekly advice column.
He is a high school principal in Lorton, Va., who also spent eight years as a middle school principal. He is also the author of the book Pulling Back the Curtain on School Leadership (Lulu.com, 2024).
He is a high school principal in Lorton, Va., who also spent eight years as a middle school principal. He is also the author of the book Pulling Back the Curtain on School Leadership (Lulu.com, 2024).
Bettina L. Love
Bettina L. Love writes essays on race in America for Education Week Opinion.
Love is an award-winning author and professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. In addition, she has authored several books, including most recently Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal (St. Martin’s Press, 2023).
Love is an award-winning author and professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. In addition, she has authored several books, including most recently Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal (St. Martin’s Press, 2023).
Michael Nelson
Michael Nelson contributes insights and advice for education leaders for the Peter DeWitt’s Finding Common Ground Education Week Opinion blog.
He is a leadership coach and the co-leader of the Instructional Leadership Collective with Peter DeWitt with whom he co-authored Leading With Intention (Corwin, 2024). Nelson has been a public school educator for more than 40 years, serving as a teacher, principal, curriculum and instruction director, assistant superintendent, and superintendent.
He is a leadership coach and the co-leader of the Instructional Leadership Collective with Peter DeWitt with whom he co-authored Leading With Intention (Corwin, 2024). Nelson has been a public school educator for more than 40 years, serving as a teacher, principal, curriculum and instruction director, assistant superintendent, and superintendent.
Teaching
Blog
Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo
Award-winning teacher Larry Ferlazzo curates discussions on classroom management, English-learner instruction, and more.
School & District Management
Blog
Peter DeWitt's Finding Common Ground
Leadership coach Peter DeWitt shares insights and advice for education leaders with frequent contributor Michael Nelson.
Policy & Politics
Blog
Rick Hess Straight Up
Education policy maven Rick Hess delivers straight talk on matters of policy, politics, research, and reform.
How to Submit
Education Week Opinion welcomes submissions from a range of perspectives within the K-12 education community. Regardless of your role in education, we want to hear from you.