About Us

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute is a Washington, D.C.-based, non-profit think tank dedicated to advancing educational excellence in America's K-12 schools.

We promote policies that strengthen accountability and expand education options for parents and families. Our reports examine issues such as the No Child Left Behind Act, school choice and teacher quality. Our sister non-profit, the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, sponsors charter schools in Ohio.

In 2007, the Foundation became a "supporting organization" (in IRS terminology) of the Institute. As a result, the Institute is the public face of nearly all that Fordham does, while the Foundation uses its modest endowment primarily to support the Institute's work, supplemented by generous support from other funders. In short, the Foundation helps make possible the work of the Institute.

Named after an Ohio industrialist who passed away in 1945, neither organization has any connection to Fordham University (though we hear it's a pretty good school).

Fordham board members Caprice Young, Rod Paige and Dave Ponitz at a recent board meeting. View more board pictures.