Robert Pondiscio is a senior fellow and vice president for external affairs at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a senior advisor to Democracy Prep Public Schools in Harlem, New York. He writes and speaks extensively on education and education reform issues with an emphasis on literacy, curriculum, teaching and urban education. He came to the field of education as a second career and never intended to stay. He has become one of its most passionate spokespersons for reform and innovation. “I have a complicated relationship with testing and accountability.”