FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 21, 2022
Contact for Education Pioneers:
Terrence Kneisel
VP, External Relations
[email protected]
Education Pioneers Names Fifth Cohort of Rising Leaders to 2022-2023 Impact Fellowship Cohort
Thirty-two early career analysts and strategic project managers serving 10-month placements in K-12
Boston, MA – Today, Education Pioneers (EP) named 32 rising leaders to the 2022-2023 Impact Fellowship cohort — bringing critical analytic and project management talent to the K-12 education sector as school systems continue the long road of COVID recovery. Together, the Impact Fellows will serve 27 school districts, charter school organizations, state agencies, and other support organizations that reach 4 million students nationwide.
“The K-12 sector faces immense challenges at this moment, requiring more leadership and management capacity to define problems in new ways, identify novel solutions, and implement innovations that can make education into a lever for equity,” said Melissa Wu, CEO. “EP is proud to recruit and develop a new cohort of 32 adaptive, inclusive leaders for the field, especially in a moment when talent may not be naturally finding their way here. We must ensure a diverse and representative pipeline of leaders for K-12 when it’s needed most.”
Now in its fifth year, the Impact Fellowship is one of Education Pioneers’ signature talent pipeline programs — catalyzing early career leaders while adding needed capacity to school districts, charter school organizations, and other education support organizations across the country. During the program, Impact Fellows complete a 10-month paid work placement with a leading education organization, where they apply targeted data and strategic project management experience to advance key priorities.
This year’s Fellows are helping drive and implement initiatives such as closing learning gaps, improving school quality, managing funding and resources, and creating new infrastructure. Example projects include:
- Project managing Start Early’s National Research-Policy agenda to improve equitable systemic change in the early childhood field;
- Analyzing existing qualitative and quantitative data related to the National Equity Project’s Black Teacher Project initiative, creating a narrative for how the program is empowering Black educators; and
- Developing a report on DC Public Schools’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with an eye towards improvements for future systems, structures, and crisis response at the Central Office.
Aligned with EP’s work to build a diverse and representative talent pipeline, 50% of incoming Fellows self-identify as Black or Latinx. Impact Fellows also come from a variety of professional backgrounds, bringing their analytic or project management experience from previous roles in education, the broader social sector, or the private sector. 50% bring previous private sector experience; 25% of Fellows are brand new to K-12.
“I became an Education Pioneers Fellow because of my passion for urban, public school systems. I wanted to use the skills I learned in private sector consulting to improve the organizational effectiveness of the education sector so that it can make the most positive difference for students,” said Clara Smith, Impact Fellow at DC Public Schools.
The full list of Fellows and their placement organizations can be found at https://www.educationpioneers.org/blog/announcing-eps-2022-2023-impact-fellowship-cohort.
To complement their work placement, Fellows engage in cohort-based professional development where they gain skills, mindsets, and orientations that can help them accelerate equity and excellence throughout their careers. Fellows become part of Education Pioneers’ nationwide network of education leaders, which includes 4,600 Alumni at all stages of their careers – 70% of whom continue to work in education following their EP Fellowship and 50% of whom self-identify as leaders of color.
Education Pioneers is currently accepting applications for its next upcoming program: the 2023 Summer Fellowship, a 10-week program that provides exposure to systems-level roles in education. The Summer Fellowship program will be offered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago, Texas, and Washington DC in 2023. Interested graduate students and professionals can learn more at www.educationpioneers.org/SummerFellowship or apply online at www.educationpioneers.org/apply. The priority deadline is December 20, 2022.
About Education Pioneers
Education Pioneers is a nonprofit focused on ensuring the K-12 education sector has the leadership and general management capacity it needs. The organization creates pathways into education leadership for promising leaders and general managers from diverse backgrounds, and builds their long-term capacity to solve education’s evolving set of challenges. Since 2003, Education Pioneers has recruited and developed over 4,500 leaders, with 50% self-identifying as leaders of color.
Of Education Pioneers’ Alumni in the workforce, more than 70% serve in education and lead or contribute to work that impacts public school students in major cities across the nation, most of whom are students of color and growing up in underserved areas. Learn more: www.educationpioneers.org/our-impact.
