Michael Brickman is the national policy director at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, where he furthers educational excellence as a commentator on education-reform issues and is a regular contributor to the Flypaper blog and other publications. Michael served in communications roles on state and national political campaigns before being tapped by Gov. Scott Walker to lead his education-reform efforts in Wisconsin. While in the governor’s office, he worked to support collective-bargaining reforms, increase standards and accountability, expand school choice, and keep college affordable through innovative reforms. Michael graduated from the University of Delaware with an honors bachelor’s degree in political science. He currently lives in Washington, D.C. and can be reached at mbrickman@edexcellence.net