June 22, 2011 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

Mountain View, CA – EdSource is pleased to announce the appointment of Louis Freedberg, a widely respected leader in media innovation and education reporting, as the organization's new executive director.

"Freedberg's selection was based on his demonstrated leadership in communications and reporting on education policy, and his deep understanding of the multiple challenges facing California in K-12 public schools, community colleges, and higher education," said Carl Cohn, president of the EdSource Board of Directors. "He also brings a vast knowledge of other critical issues such as criminal justice and immigration—challenges that directly impact the quality of schooling in California."

The EdSource Board of Directors selected Freedberg after conducting a national search. He will officially join the EdSource staff on July 5, 2011.

"I am honored to take the helm of EdSource at such a critical time for education at all levels in our state," said Freedberg.  "I look forward to building on the extraordinary contributions the organization has made in informing the education community, policy makers, and the public on complex education issues."

Freedberg plans to work with the EdSource staff  to expand the reach of EdSource's work using new media and interactive tools, to establish new partnerships with nonprofit and other organizations, and to develop innovative ways to engage Californians on the future of public education in the state. 

Freedberg succeeds Trish Williams as just the third executive director in EdSource's 34-year history. Cohn praised Williams for her 19 years of service and her success at developing EdSource into an organization with statewide influence and national visibility. "We will all miss Trish's remarkable stewardship of this California treasure," said Cohn. Williams was appointed earlier this year to the State Board of Education by Gov. Jerry Brown.

For more than two decades, Freedberg has analyzed and reported on local, state, and national education policy issues. Most recently, Freedberg was the founding director and senior education reporter at California Watch, a pioneering nonprofit journalism venture.  Prior to helping establish California Watch, he spent more than a decade at the San Francisco Chronicle, where he was an award-winning education reporter, Washington correspondent, columnist, and member of the editorial board.  

Freedberg brings to his new position experience as executive director of several nonprofit organizations, including Youth News, the precursor to Youth Radio and one of the first youth media organizations in the nation. He also directed youth programs at Pacific News Service/New America Media. A South African by birth, he founded and directed the Institute for a New South Africa, which established linkages with black communities threatened by the apartheid regime and communities in the United States.

Among the honors he has received, Freedberg has been a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University, a Visiting Fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington D.C., and a Fellow at the Institute for Justice and Journalism at the University of Southern California. He has a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from UC Berkeley and a B.A. in developmental psychology from Yale University.

EdSource is grateful to The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and The James Irvine Foundation for support of EdSource’s executive search, and thanks Chuck Pappalardo at Trilogy Search for his fine work.

About EdSource

EdSource (www.edsource.org) is a nonprofit research, policy, and communications organization established in 1977 to clarify complex education issues in California. EdSource reaches a wide range of local, regional, and state level education stakeholders and decision makers. Its program includes an information rich website, an annual forum on education policy, and a series of publications on topics such as school finance, middle grades education, student achievement, accountability policies, and charter schools.

EdSource
520 San Antonio Rd., Suite 200, Mountain View CA, 94040
650-917-9481. edsource@edsource.org.