Frank Method: Education Policy Expert and Friend of UNESCO

There has been a global revolution in education in a single lifetime. The right to education has been recognized, and hundreds of millions of children got new access to schooling. Few people were more responsible for that revolution than Frank Method.

Frank Method (left) and Dick Arndt (right)
lecturing on UNESCO at George Washington Universite

Francis Jerome (Frank) Method died of cancer on December 21, 2013 at the age of 72. He was an expert on education and education planning, who served for many years on the Board of Directors of Americans for UNESCO. He was employed by UNESCO from 1998 to 2001 as Director of its Washington Office and as an Education Advisor. He also taught a graduate seminar on UNESCO at George Washington University from 2008 to 2010.

Frank was dedicated to education and to international development. His career began when he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nigeria in 1964; he continued as a Peace Corps staff member in Nigeria until 1969. He went on to senior staff posts in the Ford Foundation, and the Research Triangle International. At USAID from 1981 to 1996, as a  senior adviser he led policy development on basic education and skills training, participant training and development communications, He also served as a visiting professor at Stanford University. He later had a variety of consulting assignments with the World Bank, UNESCO, non-governmental organizations and private-sector firms.

His experience ranged from early childhood education through adult and community education, from strategies for improving access to quality basic schooling through the new challenges for higher education and continuing learning, and from the technical issues of education sector planning and pedagogy to the broader issues of how education choices relate to economic and political development, demographic trends, and technological change. During his international career he had field experience and significant sector work in more than 20 countries.

He represented the United States in international groups and policy fora including the International Working Group on Education, the Steering Committee for the World Conference on Education For All (EFA) and related education initiatives and participated actively in the Basic Education Coalition and related advocacy and exchange networks.

He was a resident of Washington DC for many years, and was concerned with its schools. He was active in District of Columbia public education working groups, including facilities planning, technology planning, and school restructuring. He was chairman of the board of Multicultural Community Service at the time of his death.

Frank was a personal friend and colleague for more than 30 years. He was a fine man, and a superb professional who taught me a great deal. I will miss him greatly.

Beloved husband of Bonnie Cain and loving father of Joseph Method, Frank is survived by his mother, Lucille Method and his siblings, The Rev. Fredrick Method, Michael Method, Suzanne Morris, Christie Kangas, Auralee Bussone and Kelly Shadowens.

Click here for more on his education and publications.