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Rotherham, NewSchools’ Smith to Form New Eduventure

By Michele McNeil — January 21, 2010 1 min read
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Departing Education Sector co-founder Andy Rotherham, aka Eduwonk, is finally spilling the beans about his next great eduventure: a nonprofit firm that will specialize in improving outcomes for low-income students.

He is joining forces with Kim Smith, co-founder and senior adviser of NewSchools Venture Fund, Chicago-based education consultant Monisha G. Lozier, and Mary K. Wells, a management consultant who has done work in Texas on the state’s STEM initiative. (UPDATE: Please note that I corrected Kim’s title. Thanks to the great reader for pointing this out!)

The new firm will be called Bellwether Education, (to answer your question, Russo), and will work with entrepreneurial organizations in K-12 that need to do executive searches, or are in need of management and strategic advice to advance their work.

Rotherham said Bellwether Education will be funded through fees for service and grants, and will not lobby. It will work with nonprofits, school districts, and government agencies that are “committed to dramatically changing outcomes for low-income kids,” he said.

Also joining the foursome as a senior associate will be Sara Mead, who is leaving the New America Foundation.

This national venture will have a presence in Washington, D.C., Seattle, San Francisco, and Boston.