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The Ultimate Education Game Changer Is...

The Ultimate Education Game Changer Is Shai Reshef
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Head of Audience Development, Yahoo!

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HuffPost's Game Changers series celebrates 100 innovators, visionaries, and leaders in 12 categories who, whether working in the spotlight or under the radar, are changing how we look at the world and the way we live in it. We salute them for their willingness to look at things and take the risk of saying, "I think I have a better way."

You've voted on your favorites and chosen Shai Reshef as the Ultimate Game Changer in Education for 2010. Voting is now closed.

EDUCATION Game Changers
Michelle Rhee(01 of02)
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Changed the game by ... shaking up the D.C. school system. Rhee has been the chancellor of Washington, D.C. schools for three years, and her gung-ho desire for reform has irritated vested interests and ushered in a new culture of accountability. Seniority rules that kept bad teachers in place have been repealed, hundreds of teachers that Rhee said were underperforming have been fired, and the federal program Race to the Top just recognized D.C. as one of its winners, sending money its way to continue reforms. Rhee was one of the earliest members of Teach for America to rise in education politics, and is proof that its young network of alumni has the ability to deliver a message of educational reform from positions of power.Fun fact: Rhee makes up half of education reform's most glamorous couple—her new husband, Kevin Johnson, is a former NBA all-star and the current mayor of Sacramento.Must-click link:Rhee's site (credit:Getty)
Shai Reshef(02 of02)
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Changed the game by ... taking the world to school. In 2009, Reshef founded the University of the People, a Pasadena-based project that streams lectures and assignments to people around the world, allowing them to take college classes online for less than $100—and ultimately get accredited degrees. At this point, there are 500 students from 100 countries discussing topics and meeting regularly in online forums. Reshef is aware that not everyone has easy access to the Internet; UoPeople is preparing communication centers in Zimbabwe, the Dominican Republic, Bangladesh, Haiti, Liberia, and Palestine. "There are hundreds of millions of people around the world unable to afford higher education," he told Fast Company. "We are offering them an alternative."How it all got started: Reshef worked in the for-profit side of education, when he joined the Israeli test-prep company Kidum in 1989. Under his leadership, it became the largest education-services company in Israel, with revenues of over $25 million before Kaplan bought it in 2005. “I’ve made enough money," he now says. "It’s time to give back.” Must-click link:UoPeople.org

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