Talent in Action

To address the structural inequities that perpetuate the opportunity gap and affect low-income students and students of color, Education Pioneers is building a network of leaders and partners in education who can reimagine systems of schools nationwide. As Education Pioneers (EP) has been building a leadership movement to transform public education for nearly 15 years, EP recently teamed with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to examine our impact in the K-12 public education sector. We wanted to know: Is EP meeting our mission to recruit, connect, and advance more diverse,...

In June, Education Pioneers was proud to host the annual Chicago Agents of Change Luncheon, where we honored 10 EP Alumni who work in Chicago education organizations on behalf of underserved students and demonstrate results toward achieving educational equity and opportunity in many ways, including innovation, entrepreneurship, and community advocacy and empowerment. One of those Alumni, Adrian Segura, was named the EPic Chicago Alumni of the year for his work as an advocacy and government affairs professional who largely advocates on behalf of public school students. (The EPic Chicago Alumni...

EP Alum Caleb Fields , who recently became Manager of the Teacher Through Leader Talent Acquisition Team at Denver Public Schools (DPS), was featured on Teacher.org! As Caleb says of the importance of great teachers: “The presence of high-quality teachers is at the core of the success of education systems in our country, and the ability of our schools to support students to reach their academic and career potential. “It is my belief that teachers who love what they teach and love who they teach have the potential to make the biggest impact on our kids, families, and communities.” → Read more...

This is an unapologetic call to action aimed squarely at the Education Pioneers Alumni who are currently working in the private sector.

The UP Education Network is a nonprofit school management organization that oversees in-district school turnaround in Massachusetts. Recruitment of talented, mission-oriented educators is critical for the organization’s success as it works to rapidly transform chronically underperforming district schools. One of the organization’s key leaders in recruiting new talent is Tarah Mohika, who took a manager position with the UP Education Network’s recruitment team in 2013. Tarah’s supervisor at the time, Victoria Lautsch, encouraged her to participate in Education Pioneers’ Visiting Fellowship ...

As passionate and capable education change agents, we face a tough decision: where should we work? Should you go where you’re most familiar or comfortable? Or should you go to the place that needs you ? For those of us who want to make change in education, we should push ourselves to those places that need us most. Coincidentally, these are also the places which are likely to welcome our contributions the most. In 2016, I took a leap of faith to work in a place that was calling me: Kansas City, MO. There, as an Education Pioneers Fellow, I worked with the Kansas City Public School District ,...

In this Q&A, EP Alumnus Josh McCarty, Managing Director of Communications at New Schools for New Orleans , talks about the moments of joy in his work, the city’s unrelenting focus on continuous improvement, and why the Crescent City just might be the right place for you if you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and be a part of a highly adaptive and responsive education system (and enjoy a little jazz on the side). What made you decide to apply to EP and become a Fellow? I went to business school uninterested in becoming a “business person.” I was looking to continue working in education (...

In 2015, nine Education Pioneers Fellows began learning about and working in the education community of Shelby County, TN (which includes Memphis), through their Fellowship placement at Seeding Success . Together, they also conceived of, launched, and evaluated a project to expand their impact in Memphis, and this post is their story of that work. Here in Shelby County, TN, we are humbled by the tremendous work being done in the community to bring about equity for children, and we have been glad to play a small part in that important work. In addition to our EP Fellowship placements...

Just a few years ago, parents in Washington, DC faced a complex and confusing process to find the right public schools for their children. Parents had to navigate 54 different application deadlines, according to Education Pioneers Alumna Maura Marino ( left, EP Fellow 2007) . For instance, District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) operated a lottery for out-of-boundary schools and a separate lottery for selective high schools. Each DC charter network also had its own application and lottery, and many operated on different timelines. “We knew it wasn’t enough just to help create more good...

I remember distinctly the moment when I saw that I’d been assigned to an Education Pioneers Fellowship project in Kansas City . Honestly, I had mixed feelings. The project was exactly what I wanted, but I was also apprehensive about spending my summer in Kansas City (KC). In retrospect, I was about to embark on some of the most inspiring work I’d ever done, but I didn’t know it at that time. On June 1, I landed in KC with a lot of doubts. I didn’t know a single soul in the city or where I was going to live. Fortunately, I had a colleague at PREP-KC , a nonprofit organization where I would be...