Adele Grundies

What path led you to your current role?

I always knew I wanted to work in the education field, but I was disillusioned early on by the political roadblocks to systemic reform. I started by working in after-school programs in Oakland and New York City because it was satisfying to see the immediate impact on students’ lives. I loved seeing kids who didn’t feel successful during the school day come out of their shell in an arts program or realize they’re not “bad” at math when they had a strong tutor or after-school teacher supporting them. Eventually, the frustration at seeing how far behind these students already were when they came to our programs led me to look for work that had a bigger impact on the public school system, and I was very lucky to find a role in TNTP that fit exactly that.

What are some of the responsibilities in your current role?

I love how each of my roles and projects brings a new challenge. In my new role, I work with project teams across the Performance Management group to help our district clients make better technology decisions as they implement performance management systems, particularly new evaluation models. That includes researching existing vendors and systems, partnering with projects to customize those systems, and building technology in-house that can fill gaps where necessary.

What challenges, barriers, or difficulties have you experienced working in education reform?

There is a high degree of resistance to change in the education field, and our team deals with that constantly. It takes a lot of political will to make true changes to school systems, and most reforms end up tinkering around the edges. This is an exciting time to work in education, as the Obama administration has made school reform a national priority and made it far more feasible for states and districts to enact reforms with funding support and political cover.

What impact have you had in your current role?

In my time with TNTP, I have been closely involved in developing our data analysis protocols and best practices as well as hiring many of our data analysts. I was also a co-author for our Chicago and New York policy reports, including Mutual Benefits, and it is gratifying to see our findings in those publications cited in research, editorials, and legislative proposals. I am excited to see the impact of my current role as our clients roll out technology solutions that help make performance management processes easier for principals and teachers and produce the data that help them put their focus where it’s needed most – on classroom instruction and student achievement.