March 25th, 2017 - The Education Commission of the States has announced Lowell Milken as this years's James Bryant Conant Award recipient, one of education’s most prestigious honors. In receiving the James Bryant Conant Award, Lowell Milken joins the ranks of education greats such as Sal Kahn (2016), Linda Darling-Hammond (2010), Thurgood Marshall (2004) and Marian Wright-Edelman (1987).

Named after the former president of Harvard University and co-founder of Education Commission of the States Mr. James Bryant Conant, the award recognizes outstanding individual contributions to American education. Education Commission of the States (ECS) will be officially presenting Lowell Milken with the award at the 2017 National Forum on Education Policy, taking place June 28-30, 2017, in San Diego.

“Lowell Milken’s efforts in education span across many areas of education practice, including policy, research, curriculum, professional development and student success,” said ECS President Jeremy Anderson. “Lowell’s inclusive approach to providing opportunities for educators, students and communities to increase innovation in and awareness of the importance of a well-rounded and comprehensive education experience demonstrates his commitment to supporting education from beginning to end.”

As former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Ray Simon said, “When the history of education for the latter 20th and early 21st centuries is written, it will undoubtedly look upon the efforts of Lowell Milken—especially in his ground-breaking successes with the TAP System for Teacher and Student Advancement—as seminal in addressing the core issues of high quality teaching and learning.”

Lowell’s reputation as a visionary leader of education reform has been honed by more than three decades of education research, policy and practices — complemented by firsthand visits to thousands of classrooms and the creation of major national initiatives:

• Lowell developed the Milken Educator Awards to recognize the importance of outstanding educators and to encourage talented young people to choose teaching as a profession.
• With the Milken Educator Awards dedicated to recognizing excellence among the few, Lowell determined to also generate excellence among the many, as embodied by TAP:  The System for Teacher and Student Advancement, a highly researched and proven whole school reform model.
• Demand for TAP compelled Lowell to establish the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching in 2005, committed to ensuring a highly skilled, strongly motivated and competitively compensated teacher for every classroom in America.
• Another transformative educational organization—the Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes—encourages student-driven project-based learning to discover, develop and communicate the stories of Unsung Heroes who have made a profound and positive difference on the course of history.
• In 2011, UCLA School of Law established the Lowell Milken Institute for Business Law and Policy (LMI) to help ensure that UCLA law students are prepared to assume leadership roles in the practice of law as well as in business, government and philanthropy.
• At Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, the Hoffmitz Milken Center for Typography (HMCT) honors the legacy of Leah Hoffmitz Milken, a letterform expert and professor known for unique logotypes and typefaces, and is dedicated to setting the global standard of excellence in typography and design education.

“Education is not only the most fundamental of life’s opportunities, it is the foundation of our strength as a nation and our security as a democracy,” said Lowell. “This is why it is incumbent upon all of us to ensure a high-quality educational experience for every young person. Being associated with the legacy of James Bryant Conant and the achievement of others who have changed the course of American education is a great honor.”