Education data expert takes the helm of the nationally respected education advocacy organization
WASHINGTON (April 5, 2018) – Rob McKenna, chairman of the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) Board of Directors, today announced that the Board has unanimously selected Jennifer Bell-Ellwanger, an educator and experienced executive, as the organization’s new President and CEO. A former classroom teacher, she has more than two decades of experience leading major efforts to make data work for students and families in some of the nation’s largest school districts.
Bell-Ellwanger’s selection follows a national search after founding President and CEO Aimee Rogstad Guidera announced her plans to step down following 13 successful years at DQC’s helm.
“The DQC Board and staff are excited to have a leader of Jennifer’s caliber to lead the organization into its next chapter,” said John Bailey, co-chair of the DQC Board’s executive search committee. “From the classroom to the U.S. Department of Education, Jennifer has been a champion for the power of data to transform teaching and learning. With her leadership, DQC will continue its signature work to ensure everyone with a stake in education has the data they need to support student success.”
Bell-Ellwanger previously served at the U.S. Department of Education as Director of the Policy and Program Studies Service and Acting Assistant Secretary of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development. At the Department, she led efforts to make data more useful and available to the public, including through the College Scorecard, which provides students and their families with reliable data on college costs, graduation rates, and post-college earnings. Bell-Ellwanger was awarded the Secretary’s Executive Leadership Award in 2016 for her service to the Department.
“Jennifer has firsthand experience using data to help ensure all kids get the education they need and deserve,” said John B. King, Jr., former U.S. Secretary of Education and President of the Education Trust. “She will bring a practitioner’s lens to DQC’s important work of uplifting education data to benefit each and every child in our nation.”
Bell-Ellwanger has more than 25 years of experience teaching and leading in urban education. Before joining the federal Department of Education in 2015, she served as Chief Achievement and Accountability Officer and interim Chief of Staff of Baltimore City Public Schools, where she led efforts to prepare the district’s students to graduate ready for career or college, including implementation of higher academic standards.
She began her career as a kindergarten and first grade teacher in New York City’s public schools, where she later served as a senior advisor to the chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. In this capacity, Bell-Ellwanger oversaw New York City’s Research and Policy Support Group, the primary source of research, data reporting, and analytics for the district, and she served as the district’s liaison to the State Education Department to improve alignment between the state and the city’s education reforms.
“I am thrilled to join the DQC team,” said Bell-Ellwanger. “I am passionate about ensuring every parent has access to the information they need, in a format that’s understandable and accessible so they can make the best decisions for their child. Policymakers play a key role in creating the capacity, conditions, and culture for that data to be accessed and used by parents, teachers and school leaders, and I look forward to working with them to ensure data works to enhance learning and academic growth for every student in this country.”
Bell-Ellwanger will replace Aimee Rogstad Guidera, who launched DQC in 2005 to encourage states to increase the quality, availability, and use of education data to inform and improve decisions, actions, and student outcomes. The education and policy fields have come to rely on DQC’s research and landscape analyses as the leading source of information about the “state of the states” on effective data use.
“DQC has been successful because of our talented, hardworking, and passionate staff, Board, and partners,” said Guidera. “With Jennifer on board, DQC is poised to have even greater impact going forward as the organization taps her experience from the frontlines of education to help state policymakers change the culture around education data use from compliance to continuous improvement.”
A full biography of Jennifer Bell-Ellwanger is available on the Data Quality Campaign’s website.
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Contact: Julia Banks, julia.banks@finnpartners.com, 443-534-1676
About the Data Quality Campaign:
The Data Quality Campaign is a nonprofit policy and advocacy organization leading the effort to bring every part of the education community together to empower educators, families, and policymakers with quality information to make decisions that ensure students excel. For more information, go to dataqualitycampaign.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@EdDataCampaign).
