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. This work is a passion for Kim, who understands that solutions to our public problems must be informed by the voices of those who will ultimately choose whether or not proposed solutions will elicit their discretionary effort to improve learning. Listening to the ideas and experiences of these ‘workers’ in public education is particularly important as today’s school and learning programs—not to mention the kinds of careers young people must be prepared for—are rapidly evolving from what many decision-makers experienced when they were attending.
With Education|Evolving, Kim is researching and co-authoring a book on the subject of What Happens When Teachers Control Their Work? The book will document what teachers do differently when they have a relatively high degree of autonomy to make decisions about the management and learning programs of their schools. Kim has authored other publications with E|E, including Tech Savvy Students Stuck in Text-Dominated Schools and Staying In, a paper about the role of motivation in students’ decision to learn and graduate.
Kim’s other clients include Project Tomorrow in Irvine, California for which Kim 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 initiative. Via SSO young people learn civic participation skills as they share their experiences and ideas related to education policy using social networking tools both on and offline. The program, with has benefited from partnership with Education|Evolving, has additionally expanded Citizens League’s capacity to secure authentic student input for those wanting the reactions and ideas of students, teachers, and administrators as they design and implement policies and programs.
Kim resides with her husband and two children in Orange County, CA. She 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. Her work has been acknowledged in the book Disrupting Class, the Stanford Social Innovation Review journal, AEI’s Will Policy Let Demand be the Driver and in numerous other publications and venues.