Forbes reaches out to 20 leaders from industry, public policy and education to offer their vision for putting American education and American students back on sound global footing.

Jeanne Allen, President, Center for Education Reform.

Bryan Baker, Thought Leader and Enterprise Consultant for Xerox Global Services

Craig Barrett, Chairman, Intel Corp.

Todd Bradley, Executive VP, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett Packard

Cynthia G. Brown, Director of Education Policy, Center for American Progress

John Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco

Clayton M. Christensen, Co-founder, Innosight Institute

Senator Michael Enzi , Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

Colonel Dean M. Esserman, Chief of Police, City of Providence, RI

Mike Feinberg, Co-founder, KIPP charter schools

Bill Gates, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Taylor W. Lawrence, Vice President, Research of Raytheon

Stanley Litow, President, IBM International Foundation

Rep. Howard McKeon, Senior Republican, House Education and Labor Committee

Rep. George Miller, Chairman, House Education and Labor Committee

Jim Miller, Executive VP, Cadence Design Systems

Michele Rhee, Chancellor, District of Columbia Public Schools

Margaret Spellings, U.S. Secretary of Education

Chris Whittle, Founder, Chairman of Edison Schools

Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize 2006, Founder of Grameen Bank