For three decades, Steven has sought to spark change in urban public education—offering fresh ideas in his writing and research, shaping legislative change, and opening new schools that prove what’s possible. To offer vibrant instruction virtually in the time of the pandemic, Steven cofounded the National Summer School Initiative—and developed a new model for accelerating learning and building teacher capacity. Earlier, Steven founded and built Ascend Learning, a network of tuition-free, liberal arts charter schools in Central Brooklyn. Ascend demonstrated the power of a warm and joyful school culture focused on fostering student agency—and not only closed but reversed achievement gaps.His first book, Reinventing the Schools: A Radical Plan for Boston, drove the development and passage of the Massachusetts charter school law. Learning on the Job: When Business Takes on Public Schools, won the Virginia and Warren Stone prize for an outstanding book on education and society. Steven is a Pahara-Aspen fellow and a graduate of Harvard University.