Sara Schapiro has emerged as a prominent voice in the transformation of American education through research, innovation, and technology. Sara leads The Alliance for Learning Innovation, a coalition that brings together education nonprofits, philanthropy, and the private sector, to advocate for building a better research and development infrastructure in education. Most recently, Sara was a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists where she led their education, workforce, and talent policy portfolio, with a focus on education research and development. Previously, Sara served as the vice president of education at PBS, where she led their efforts to deepen partnerships across the education sector and launched new initiatives that empower and support educators, students, parents, and member stations.
Prior to PBS, Sara helped found Digital Promise, an independent, bipartisan nonprofit whose mission is to spur innovation and improve all Americans’ opportunity to learn. She launched and led Digital Promise’s flagship initiative, the League of Innovative Schools, a national coalition of public school districts that fosters collaboration among educators, entrepreneurs, researchers and thought partners. Sara also worked for the New York City Department of Education, Chicago Public Schools, the New Jersey Department of Education, and Pearson on pioneering teaching and learning projects, educational technology initiatives, and teacher and student engagement efforts.
She holds a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago. Sara lives in Washington, DC with her husband, a middle school counselor, and her son and daughter.
