Education Evolving is a Minnesota- based group of thought leaders in education reform. E|E leaders have been instrumental in innovations such as open enrollment and school choice, the nation's first charter school law, and teachers as owners of professional partnerships, which are responsible and accountable for managing schools.
E|E works to convince those who make and influence policy that America's success depends on creating radically different and better ways for young people to learn and for teachers to work.
Kim Farris-Berg advances game-changing ideas and strategies in education policy. Among her primary roles is bringing the voices of students and teachers into the current discourse. She is a visionary strategist, project/process designer and manager, researcher and analyst, and author. Kim is especially interested in identifying where incentives can make a difference.
Kim is co-author of the book Trusting Teachers with School Success: What Happens When Teachers Call the Shots (2012). She is also author of a number of Education|Evolving publications including Tech Savvy Students Stuck in Text-Dominated Schools and Staying In, about the role of motivation in students' decision to learn and graduate.
Kim’s clients include Project Tomorrow in Irvine, California for which she authored Inspiring the Next Generation of Innovators: Students, Parents and Educators Speak Up about Science Education. Also, the St. Paul-based Citizens League for which Kim co-created the Students Speak Out. Students Speak Out is a social network (both online and offline) where students influence policy conversations by co-defining public problems and co-creating solutions. Among other things, teens have examined the definition of student achievement.
Kim has been a guest columnist at the Orange County Register, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and other publications. Her work has been acknowledged in McGraw-Hill's Disrupting Class, the Stanford Social Innovation Review journal and in Customized Schooling, edited by Bruno Manno and Frederick M. Hess. She also received a Changemaker Award from the Minnesota Women's Press for promoting greater self-determination, equality, and justice for women and girls.
Kim earned a master's degree in public policy from the Humphrey Institute for Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota where she received the Lloyd B. Short Award for the Institute's best paper of the year and the joint Carlson School (M.B.A.) - Humphrey Institute award for best paper analyzing labor policy. She earned a BA with honors from the University of San Diego.
Kim resides with her husband and three children in Orange County, CA. She's a Daisy Scout leader and enjoys fitness, singing and the outdoors.