Hi. My name is Kevin Carey, and this my first post to Brainstorm. It’s a privilege to be blogging for the Chronicle and I’m looking forward to becoming virtually acquainted with my fellow contributors. Brief bio: I work at a Washington, DC-based think tank called Education Sector. We’ve been around for a little over three years, working on a range of issues from pre-K through higher education. I manage the policy team and also handle the bulk of our postsecondary work, which is how I ended up here today. I have a B.A. in political science from Binghamton University and master’s of public administration from Ohio State. I spent the first six years of my career working in the Indiana statehouse, advising the Democratic caucus of the state Senate on fiscal issues, and then as the assistant state budget director for education. My wife and I moved to DC in 2001 and I’ve been working for nonprofits ever since, including the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and The Education Trust.
In the last few years, I’ve argued that the nation needs a whole new system of college rankings, that we can learn a lot from high-performing community colleges, that most colleges and universities can and should do a better job of graduating minority students, and that technology could help reduce students costs, but not unless colleges start competing on education quality. I’m interested in higher education policy from the state and national perspective, particularly as it relates to students who don’t attend elite institutions—that is, most students. I also work in the K-12 arena on issues like teacher compensation and No Child Left Behind.
I’m glad to be here and looking forward to hearing from the Chronicle’s fantastic readership. Thanks for listening.
