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

School Segregation Is No Accident and This Writer Says It's Because of Our Racist Housing Policies

America’s public schools today are more segregated than at any time in the last half century and government housing policies are largely to blame, says author and policy analyst Richard Rothstein....

California

If You're Going to Argue About Reforming School Discipline, at Least Use Facts

The false debate over discipline reform continues raging with this misleading piece in USA Today from Gail Heriot, a University of San Diego law professor and conservative member of the U.S....

School Discipline

The Right Is Distracting Us From Needed Gun Safety Laws by Creating a Myth About School Discipline

This is how myths are made. It typically starts with a view grounded in ideology. Then “research” is generated to support the view. Lastly, pundits and policy analysts legitimize the view in the...

Achievement Gap

What Do We Actually Know About Discipline Reform?

Question: Which does more harm? Over-suspending disruptive kids, which denies them learning time and contributes to the dropout rate. Under-suspending disruptive kids, which undermines the education...

Achievement Gap

Charter Schools Need to Shift Power to Parents and Educators of Color

Following the release of a report showing that public charter school growth is slowing due to political resistance, the Center on Reinventing Public Education's (CRPE) Robin Lake offers several good...

Achievement Gap

Are Montessori Schools a Better Approach for Teaching Low-Income Children?

Is the Montessori method of schooling better for low-income children? A new study that looks at Montessori preschool students by University of Virginia psychology professor Angeline Lillard suggests...