Alan M. Blankstein

Alan M. Blankstein is an award‑winning author and educational leader who has written and edited numerous works on school improvement and equity, including Excellence Through Equity: Five Principles of Courageous Leadership to Guide Achievement for Every Student. He served for 25 years as president of the HOPE Foundation, which he founded and whose honorary chair is Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A former “high‑risk” youth, Blankstein began his career in education as a music teacher and went on to work for Phi Delta Kappa and the March of Dimes before founding Solution Tree in 1987, which he directed for 12 years while helping launch the Professional Learning Communities movement.

Blankstein is the author of the best‑selling book Failure Is Not an Option®: Six Principles That Guide Student Achievement in High‑Performing Schools, recognized as Book of the Year by Learning Forward, and he has served as senior editor, lead contributor, and/or author of more than a dozen education titles, including Excellence Through Equity (with Pedro Noguera) and Breakthrough Leadership (with Marcus Newsome). His articles have appeared in major education publications such as Education Week, Educational Leadership, The Principal, and Executive Educator, and he has provided keynote presentations and workshops for major education organizations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Africa, and the Middle East.