Chancellor, New York City Department of Education

Since becoming chancellor in 2002, Joel I. Klein has handed parents and children in poor neighborhoods their first chance on the education superhighway out of poverty. He is phasing out poor performing, large and overcrowded high schools, and has already launched well over 100 smaller ones, with many more to come. He created an ambitious Leadership Academy to train principals and partnered with the private sector, including Robin Hood, to inject millions of dollars into New York City's education budget.

Chancellor Klein also set out to create 50 charter schools in five years—and he's already ahead of schedule. He took the bold step of turning over space in public schools to charters so they could begin to take root. Today, the best of the charter schools in poor neighborhoods are lifting thousands of struggling students to academic heights these children and their families had never even dreamed about a few years ago.