Education Week - November 13, 2013 - 6

Fast-Growing Group
Widens Talent Pool
For Education Leaders
7,000 apply for management fellowships
By Katie Ash
Applications to Education Pio-
neers, a nonprofit group that brings
high-performing leaders-particularly
those from outside education-
into K-12 administrative internships,
are rising steadily, putting the
10-year-old organization in line to
follow in the footsteps of other nontraditional
talent recruiters such as
Teach For America.
Despite that recent growth, how-
ever, Education Pioneers remains
under the radar of many education
leadership and management experts
and organizations.
"[Education Pioneers] is able to
leverage the huge benefits of cohortbuilding
and human-capital and
people pipelines, and they're getting
smart, interesting, engaged people
into these roles," said Frederick M.
Hess, the director of education policy
studies for the American Enterprise
Institute, a Washington think
tank.
"The fact that they're off the radar
is one of the key reasons why school
improvement is having such enormous
difficulties," added Mr. Hess,
who also writes an opinion blog
hosted on Education Week's website.
The Oakland, Calif.-based organization
experienced a 70 percent increase
in applications this past year
alone. For the 450 fellowships available
for 2013-14, the group received
almost 7,000 applications.
The influx of applications has allowed
Education Pioneers to become
more selective, admitting fewer
than 10 percent of those who apply.
The organization's goal is to build
a network of 10,000 alumni by 2023,
said Scott Morgan, its founder and
chief executive officer.
Positions in Between
Education Pioneers places earlycareer
professionals in paid noninstructional
leadership and management
internships-such as
administrative, analytic, and operational
positions-in a variety of education-related
organizations, such as
charter schools, educational technology
companies, school districts, and
support organizations. The average
fellow comes with about five years of
professional experience.
"Between the superintendent
and the principal, there are a lot
of people that are managing the
finance and operations and human
resources and professional development,"
said Julie Angilly, the vice
president of external relations for
Education Pioneers. "Those are
roles that most people in the general
public don't even know exist,
but are just so critical to supporting
teachers and successfully educating
students."
the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation,
the Michael and Susan Dell
Foundation, the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, the Robertson
Foundation, and the Walton Family
Foundation. (The Gates and Walton
foundations also provide grant support
for Education Week.)
Creating a Pipeline
The inspiration for Education Pioneers
came from Mr. Morgan's experience
consulting with the Aspire Public
Schools charter network. Then a
fledgling organization, Aspire has
since grown to encompass 37 schools
serving low-income communities in
California and Memphis, Tenn.
Mr. Morgan said that at Aspire
he saw firsthand the potential that
could be realized when leaders
from education and business backgrounds
were brought together.
"Across the leadership team, [As-
6 | EDUCATION WEEK | November 13, 2013 | www.edweek.org
ed-tech companies to foundations to
think tanks. The rest work in a mix
of policy, legal, and advocacy organizations,
consulting firms, government
education agencies, and out-of-school
service providers.
Aimee Eubanks Davis, the chief
people officer for the New York
City-based Teach For America and
a board member for Education
Pioneers, has watched the venture
grow since its startup years and
draws parallels between the trajectory
of Education Pioneers and that
of TFA, which enlists high-performing
college graduates to teach for
two years in disadvantaged schools.
In its first 10 years, TFA tripled its
teaching corps from an initial group
of 460 in 1990 to 1,400 new corps
members in 2000. From there, the
organization began experiencing a
high rate of growth, adding 2,300
new members in 2002.
Mr. Morgan said that as Educa-
The organization has three different
programs: a 10-week or yearlong
internship for graduate students who
are either finishing up their degrees
or have recently graduated, and a
10-month-long analyst fellowship for
those with a strong background in
analytics, Ms. Angilly said.
The fellows complete a two-day
training session introducing them
to some of the big-picture challenges
in education, plus five full-day workshops
with their cohort to focus on
such topics as education technology
or human capital in education. They
also receive one-on-one coaching
throughout the program to evaluate
their progress.
Seventy percent of fellows continue
to work in education-related
jobs after finishing the program, a
recent survey indicates.
Education Pioneers works primar-
ily in urban areas in order to have
the biggest impact on underserved
communities, said Ms. Angilly, and
when it comes to placing fellows
in schools, the distribution is split
fairly evenly between charter and
district-run schools.
The organization is supported
through a combination of philanthropic
funds and revenue from the
partner organizations, which pay
to have fellows placed with them.
Some of the major funders include
"
Kaleah William, a fellow with Education Pioneers, stands in front of the business school at the University of Virginia,
where she is a graduate student. Ms. Williams hopes to one day open a residential school for foster children.
pire] had people with these different
backgrounds and skill sets all focused
on a common mission and vision
around providing students with
an excellent education," he said.
Mr. Morgan piloted Education Pioneers
with nine fellows from a variety
of backgrounds in 2004. Today,
the organization boasts an alumni
network of more than 2,000 people
and works with education organizations
in 20 cities.
Of the fellows who stay in education,
40 percent work in either school districts
or charter school organizations,
and 32 percent work in education
support organizations, ranging from
tion Pioneers has grown, it has
moved from hiring generalists to
focusing on bringing in specialists,
and building a strong recruitment
team to attract talent.
Eliminating Misconceptions
Education Pioneers alumna Ve-
I was ready for a whole lot of 'let the market
solve the problem,' but I ended up feeling awful
about my preconceived notions... "
VERONICA MADRIGAL
Education Pioneers
ronica Madrigal recently completed
a 10-week summer internship. Ms.
Madrigal, who was placed with a charter
school in the nation's capital, said
she worked to create content for a new
website for the school.
She said that having worked earlier
in the 45,000-student District of Columbia
school system through Teach
For America, she gained insight into
the differences in how district-run and
charter schools are managed.
But perhaps even more valuable
were the workshops with other fellows
in her Washington-area cohort,
said Ms. Madrigal.
"It was one of the best experiences
in my summer to sit around with so
many professional backgrounds to examine
some of the big problems and
issues in education," she said, "and
hear the way that each different perspective
informed a different aspect
of the solutions we were generating."
Before entering the program, Ms.
Madrigal said, she had anticipated
having vast differences of opinion
about how education should be led
and managed from fellows coming
from a business background.
"I was ready for a whole lot of 'let
the market solve the problem,' " she
said. "But I ended up feeling awful
about my preconceived notions because
everybody I met was fabulous,
and ... they had plenty of insights
beyond that stereotypical view.
"I finished the summer feeling like
now whenever there's a big problem,
I want to have these different folks
around the table to put their heads
together because the solutions become
so much richer," she said.
Likewise, Education Pioneers
alumna Annie Hsu, who recently
completed her 10-week summer internship
with the education technol-
ogy company Chegg, in Santa Clara,
Calif., said the experience also challenged
her assumptions about those
currently working in education.
Ms. Hsu, who comes from a for-
profit background and is now finishing
up her master's degree in
business administration at the University
of California, Berkeley, said
the experience opened her eyes to
the number of highly competent and
qualified people in the field.
'Diving in Head First'
Another fellow, Kaleah Williams,
is finishing a master's in public administration
with a focus in nonprofit
management and plans to
open a residential school for foster
children in Georgia.
That dream led her to apply to
Education Pioneers after working in
for-profit management consulting.
"I had no prior experience with
education, so I'm really getting
hands-on experience and diving in
head first," she said.
Ms. Williams was placed with the
University of Virginia's DardenCurry
Partnership for Leaders in
Education in Charlottesville, Va.,
where she works with school districts
around the country to support
their school turnaround efforts.
She said the experience has taught
her a great deal about what it means
to run a school and helped inform
her next steps. Previously, Ms. Williams
said, "I thought that ... I could
just hire people who knew what they
were doing and that would be the end
of it."
But, after working in her capacity
as a fellow, she said she now realizes
how important it is for everyone in
the school to have a strong understanding
of the education landscape.
Coverage of leadership, expanded
learning time, and arts learning is
supported in part by a grant from
The Wallace Foundation, at www.
wallacefoundation.org. Education Week
retains sole editorial control over the
content of this coverage.
Norm Shafer for Education Week

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Education Week - November 13, 2013

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