EP Updates

In this Q&A with two Education Pioneers leaders — Melissa Wu , Chief Program Officer and Sara Guderyahn , Vice President, Partner Strategy and Engagement — we dive into why EP has launched the Impact Fellowship and its vision to accelerate educational excellence and equity for all students. Editorial note: Melissa Wu became CEO of Education Pioneers in June 2018 . EP: Let’s dive in. What is the Impact Fellowship? Melissa Wu (MW) : The Impact Fellowship is an opportunity for aspiring changemakers to support equitable educational opportunities for all students while they grow as a leader...

Happy Holidays! From our network to yours, we wish you a season of meaningful connections, poignant conversations, and profound inspiration for the progress to come. Thank you for your ongoing support of Education Pioneers. We wish you all the best in 2018. With gratitude, The Education Pioneers Team If you’re inspired by the work ahead for EP and Pioneers nationwide, we would welcome your investment in our work as we head into the new year.

Exactly one year ago, more than 400 education leaders and change makers came together in San Francisco for a truly inspiring event: the 2016 Education Pioneers Conference. The wealth of knowledge joining us at the conference was palpable. From our keynote speaker Bryan Stevenson, the Founder and Executive Director of Equal Justice Initiative, or our Black Men in Education pane l where panelists tackled the realities of the low percentage of black men in the classroom and in the education sector as a whole -- we encouraged courageous, and sometimes tough, conversations. Now as we come upon its...

Julienne Devita / American Word Magazine At EP, our team is spread across the country. One of the tools we use to connect to each other daily is Salesforce Chatter! There, we give updates on our work, ask questions of each other, and share what we’re reading. As a community, we at Education Pioneers celebrate and work together to stay educated and engaged in regards to our different cultures and identities. Diversity, equity, and inclusion is not only one of our core values; it guides us in how we foster and develop our relationships with one another. Over the past month, we’ve celebrated...

EP teamed up with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to determine if we are meeting our mission to recruit, connect, and advance more diverse, transformative leaders into the education sector. AIR also examined how EP Fellows and Alumni persist in the education sector as they grow their careers. In September 2017, AIR reported on their findings in “Education Pioneers’ Fellow and Alumni Demographics and Mobility Analysis.” AIR’s research found that EP Fellows are highly educated: 81% of Pioneers held or were pursuing a doctorate in education, a juris doctorate or a master’s degree at...

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,...

Photo by Aaron Burson on Unsplash Education Pioneers stands with the 800,000 Dreamers and is saddened by the President’s decision to end the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program. EP recruits, develops, and connects professionals from diverse backgrounds with education roles to solve problems from outside of the classroom so ALL students and teachers succeed inside of the classroom. We pride ourselves on our core values — among them diversity, equity, and inclusion, people-focus, and optimism. The decision to rescind DACA runs counter to our values, our mission, and the world...

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...

The clock is ticking. There less than 12 days until the application deadline of Friday, May 12. To ensure you’re prepped and pumped to apply, here’s a little EP poem for you (which you may or may not want to sing along to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”), which we’ll update daily until May 12:

Happy New Year! In 2017, at Education Pioneers, we have our eyes fixed on hope. “Hope is what gets you to stand up when other people say, ‘sit down,’” said Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, in his keynote address at our 2016 National Conference. He urged us all to protect our hope – for hope is what enables us to believe in things we haven’t yet seen. We can give all students access to equitable opportunities. We can ensure that all schools serve all students at exceptionally high levels. We can prepare all students to reach their full potential...