Peter Cunningham

Peter Cunningham is the founder of Education Post and serves on its board. He served as Assistant Secretary for communications and outreach in the U.S. Department of Education during the Obama administration’s first term. Prior to that he worked with Arne Duncan when he was CEO of the Chicago Public Schools. Peter is affiliated with Whiteboard Advisors, a DC-based education policy, research and communications firm. He serves on several non-profit boards, including Oakland-based Great Schools, which provides school quality information to parents through a national online platform, The Montessori School of Englewood, a Chicago public charter school, Manufacturing Renaissance, a career education program that trains public high school students for jobs in manufacturing, Unbounded, an organization supporting teachers in schools that are transitioning to higher standards, and Foolproofme.com, which is focused on financial literacy for students. Peter founded Cunningham Communications, serving public, private and nonprofit clients, worked for political consultant David Axelrod, and was a senior advisor and speechwriter for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. A native New Yorker, Peter began his career as a journalist with small weekly newspapers in New York. He earned an M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University and a B.A. in philosophy from Duke University. He is married to artist Jackie Kazarian, and they have two adult children who are proud graduates of the Chicago Public Schools. Peter joined the Education Post board in 2018 after stepping down as the organization's Executive Director. Meet our board →

Posts By Peter Cunningham

Charter Schools

70 Years of Promises in Education. What Will It Take for Us to Keep Them?

The promise of public education is that it prepares young people for life—and the commitments we have made to meet this aspiration have dramatically increased educational achievement and attainment....

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opportunity gap

You Can Call It a 'Lost Decade,' But I See a Lot of Good Things Happening

The spin never stops when it comes to education and it goes into overdrive with the close of a decade. Amidst all the hype of a lost decade and the need for humility from education reformers,...

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Charter Schools

Is Education Journalism Driving School Segregation?

The question in the headline above must be asked because a recent study concludes that informed parents exercising choice are a cause of segregation. If that’s the case, then education journalism may...

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Teaching

It's Time for Chicago and Its Teachers Union to Collaborate and Win for Kids

After 11 days on the picket line, Chicago public school teachers are back at work and there’s plenty of chest-beating and navel-gazing underway. Speculation is running wild about the political...

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School Choice

With Humility and Hope, I’m Passing the Torch

Five years ago, I was invited to create a communications organization to foster dialogue around the need for improving public education, especially as it applied to low-income students. At the time,...

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California

Coffee Break: Tim Daly on How EdNavigator Helps Parents Make School Choice Work

Three years ago, Tim Daly and two colleagues left TNTP (The New Teacher Project) and launched a new effort called EdNavigator. The organization aims to help parents negotiate school choice decisions...

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