We’ve invited educators, advocates, and policymakers who are bringing leading ideas to American education. Ideas you might not have heard about until now. Starting today, we’ll be releasing a new talk every Tuesday over the next five weeks. Our speakers dive into topics ranging from AI in education to the most common myths about homeschooling families, showing the breadth of ideas students can be exposed to when we all believe in better.
Zarek Drozda, Data Science 4 Everyone (DS4E)
Zarek Drozda is the Executive Director of Data Science 4 Everyone, a national initiative and coalition based at the University of Chicago. Zarek helped launch DS4E in 2019, co-organizing a coalition of 3000+ education leaders to advance data science and data literacy education in K-12 schools across more than 35 states. Previously, Zarek helped build a social impact incubator (the Center for RISC) with economist and Freakonomics co-author Steven Levitt. Zarek also contributes to AI education policy with the Federation of American Scientists, and previously served for the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES), where he led research on emerging technology and coordinated data analytics for an inter-agency team with the White House.
Angela Watson, Johns Hopkins University
Angela R. Watson is a senior research fellow at the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy and an assistant research professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Education. Her research examines the impact of schooling and learning, with an emphasis on homeschool and informal learning options, on academic and social emotional outcomes. She is the creator of the Homeschool Hub and the director of the Homeschool Research Lab, both housed within the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy.