Eduwonk

Eduwonk is a blog written by Andrew J. Rotherham, Co-founder and Partner at Bellwether Education Partners. Occasional guest bloggers will also contribute, and the author(s) of these posts will be clearly identified.

The blog focuses mostly on education policy and politics. Obviously, that’s a field I work in as well as write about so a couple of things for readers to bear in mind. First, the views expressed here should be considered to be those of the writer(s) rather than organizational viewpoints of Bellwether or any organizations or individuals Bellwether works with or that I work with. Likewise, outgoing links do not constitute any type of endorsement of other websites or organizations.

In addition, readers can expect the highest commitment to transparency and disclosure on the blog. I will never write about something I have a formal stake in without disclosing that and will never mislead readers by withholding information substantially germane to something I’m writing about. On the other hand my work in the education field is complicated and varied. Here’s how I balance it with respect to the blog and other writing I do:  To keep confidences with entities that Bellwether works with, that I’m affiliated with in some capacity, or just around various work I am involved with professionally there are subjects that I elect not to write about and plenty of things I’m aware of that you won’t see discussed on the blog.  However, although some tin foil hat types try, thinking you can divine anything from what I don’t write about is a waste of your time.  Sometimes I’m just too busy and sometimes I’m just not interested in something or have nothing to add to the conversation.

You can also expect that any correspondence, written or oral, with me will remain private. I never publish anything on the blog without your permission to do so. For more about all this than you probably care to know, this post has more discussion.

To the apparent delight of Russian spammers I added a comment feature to Eduwonk in October 2007 and readers are encouraged to post comments about items. The Eduwonk comment policy can be found here. If that’s somehow still not enough Eduwonk for you, you can also join Eduwonk’s online community at the Eduwonk Facebook page and post content there as well.  And I use Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/arotherham. There is also a feed that tweets just Eduwonk posts http://twitter.com/eduwonk. Many readers choose to use various newsreaders and feeds to get content from Eduwonk.  You can also get a daily compilation of posts by signing up for a free email here.

I’m always grateful for articles, tips, and other information that readers pass along, as well as for reader feedback about items. Again, all correspondence is private. You can reach me through my email at Bellwether or eduwonk  [insert the at sign here] eduwonk.com.

By way of history, from its inception in 2004 until the creation of Education Sector in 2005 this blog was hosted by the Progressive Policy Institute. From 2005 until March 2010 it was hosted by Education Sector. Now it’s a part of Bellwether Education.  A complete archive of all posts since the blog’s launch is located on the upper right side of the Eduwonk site and there is a search function on the right side as well.

So welcome and enjoy Eduwonk!  To return to the front page of the site click here.

Andrew J. Rotherham is a co-founder and senior partner at Bellwether, a national nonprofit working to transform education so young people can achieve outcomes that lead to fulfilling lives and flourishing communities. He is known for heterodoxy, empiricism, and student-focused pragmatism, and works at the intersection of research, policy, media, and practice. 

In addition to Bellwether, Rotherham advises numerous education nonprofits and founded or co-founded two other education organizations. He worked at the White House as special assistant to the president for domestic policy during the Clinton administration and was appointed by governors from both major political parties to serve on the Virginia Board of Education.  

A longtime independent voice in national education debates, Rotherham writes the Eduwonk.com blog and newsletter and has authored or edited four books on education policy along with more than 450 articles, papers, and book chapters. He is a frequent guest on podcasts and co-hosts WonkyFolk. Rotherham’s research and work have earned national awards, and his news media experience includes TIME, where he was a national education columnist, and U.S. News & World Report, where he was a contributing editor. 

Rotherham is a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia’s EdPolicyWorks and serves on several advisory boards, including the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University and the National Association of State Boards of Education’s EdTech Advisory Group on AI. He is a founding board member of The 74, an education news media outlet, and also sits on the boards of Classroom Champions, a nonprofit that pairs Olympic, Paralympic, and professional athletes with student mentees in Canada and the U.S., and Leading Educators, an educator leadership development nonprofit. He was a founding board member of several influential education organizations, including The PIE Network, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and The Mind Trust. He recently served on the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Commission on the American Workforce and holds senior fellowships at the Progressive Policy Institute and The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development.  

Outside his professional work, Rotherham raises tens of thousands of dollars annually for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, serves as an EMT, and hosts a one-room schoolhouse concert series with his wife, a public high school English teacher. He lives in Virginia, dividing his time between a rural mountain community and the Washington, D.C., suburbs. 

Bellwether is a nonprofit dedicated to helping education organizations—in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors—become more effective in their work and achieve dramatic results, especially for high-need students. To do so, we provide a unique combination of exceptional thinking, talent, and hands-on strategic support.

More specifically:

– Our Policy and Thought Leadership practice works to inform and shape the broader education policy landscape by conducting policy analysis, research and writing, and idea generation on education issues and advising education entities.

– Our Talent practice identifies, places, and supports reform-minded leaders and supports organizations in developing strategies to identify talent needs and support talent internally. We conduct comprehensive executive searches, customized “search advisory” services, and provide individual coaching services.

– Our Strategic Advising practice works with leading-edge education organizations on their most pressing strategic and operational issues. Our work ranges from supporting entrepreneurs through business plan development, to partnering with established organizations on growth and performance improvement, to assessing new opportunities for impact as the field evolves.

Why bring all this together? We believe the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and many of the challenges organizations face are so complex that they require all three areas of expertise. Having each leg of the stool makes the entirety stronger, tying in innovative thinking with perspective into the on-the-ground realities.

Learn more by clicking here.