Frederick M. Hess is the director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). An educator, political scientist, and author, he studies K-12 and higher education issues. His books include Letters to a Young Education Reformer, The Cage-Busting Teacher, Breakthrough Leadership in the Digital Age, Cage-Busting Leadership, The Same Thing Over and Over, Education Unbound, Common Sense School Reform, Revolution at the Margins, and Spinning Wheels. He has edited influential books on the Common Core, entrepreneurship in education, education philanthropy, the impact of education research, and the Every Student Succeeds Act. Hess's work has appeared in scholarly and popular outlets, such as American Politics Quarterly, Harvard Education Review, Social Science Quarterly, Teachers College Record, National Affairs, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post. He also authors the popular Education Week blog Rick Hess Straight Up. A former high school social studies teacher, Hess teaches or has taught at the University of Virginia, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown University, Rice University, Johns Hopkins University, and Harvard University.

Michael Q. McShane is the director of national research at EdChoice. His analyses and commentary have been published widely in the media, including in the Huffington Post, National Affairs, USA Today, and the Washington Post. He has also been featured in education-specific outlets such as Teachers College Commentary, Education Week, Phi Delta Kappan, and Education Next. In addition to authoring numerous white papers, McShane has had academic work published in Education Finance and Policy and the Journal of School Choice. He is the editor of New and Better Schools, author of Education and Opportunity, and coeditor of Teacher Quality 2.0 and Common Core Meets Education Reform. A former high school teacher, McShane is also an adjunct fellow in education policy studies at AEI and a research fellow in the Economic and Policy Analysis Research Center at the University of Missouri.