Joanne Weiss is president of Weiss Associates, which consults with organizations on education programs, technologies, and policy. She focuses on driving systems-level education change through high-impact policymaking, grantmaking, and implementation. She works primarily with state policymakers, national nonprofit service providers, curriculum developers, school systems, and foundations.
From 2009-2013, she served in the U.S. Department of Education, first as director of the Race to the Top Program, then as chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Joanne was a partner and chief operating officer at NewSchools Venture Fund, where she focused on investing in and supporting a variety of charter management organizations, human capital solutions providers, and academic tools and systems designers.
School accountability matters. In a country founded on the dream that any child can grow up to be whatever she wants to be, accountability provides a measuring stick to judge how well schools are doing at giving each child—and every type of child—a fair shot at a good future.