Arun Ramanathan

Arun Ramanathan Arun has a account CEO at Pivot Learning San Francisco Bay Area 500+ connections Contact info Pivot Learning Harvard University Graduate School of Education About Dr. Arun Ramanathan has a stellar track record of leading and growing organizations, as well as extensive practical experience. He leads Pivot Learning, a non-profit that provides technical assistance in leadership development, systems improvement, school design and teaching and learning to states, districts and schools throughout the nation. With a staff of over 100 education experts, Pivot has worked with over 250 districts since 2011 and nearly 80 in the last year alone. Recently, Pivot acquired the Consortium on Reaching Excellence in Education (CORE) which works with dozens of districts to improve classroom teaching in English and Math. Prior to joining Pivot Learning Partners, Dr. Ramanathan served as the Executive Director of the Education Trust-West, the leading education policy, research and advocacy organization focused on closing achievement and opportunity gaps for low-income students and students of color in California. Before his time at the Education Trust-West, he was Chief Student Services Officer in the San Diego Unified School District charged with leading multiple district departments including special education, mental health, nursing and counseling with combined budgets exceeding $350 million. He has published opinion editorials on a range of education topics in California and nationally. He has been featured on NPR, local radio and television. He has also presented and provided keynote speeches and served on expert panels at dozens of meetings in California and nationally. He serves on a number of non-profit boards. Dr. Ramanathan is an immigrant to the U.S. and an English Learner. He received his B.A. from Dartmouth College, M.Ed.in Elementary and Special Education from Boston College and earned a doctorate in Administration, Policy and Social Planning from Harvard's Graduate School of Education. He is married to Indelisa Carrillo, a kindergarten teacher. They have two girls, ages 11 and 13. Articles 1,037 followers Ed. Reform Has an Asian Problem - Education Next Arun’s profile photo Arun Ramanathan Published on LinkedIn Ed Reform Has an Asian Problem By Arun Ramanathan 12/05/2017 When it comes to education reform, Asians don’t exist. Nobody talks about them. Not policymakers, national advocacy groups or funders. For decades, the education world has stereotyped Asians as a “model minority” and left them out of the education dialogue. For most ed. reformers, Asians aren’t even an afterthought. With the rapid expansion of the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) population, Ed Reform can’t afford to ignore Asians anymore. Since 2010, the growth rate of APIs has exceeded that of Latinos. Nationally, there are over 20 million APIs. In some states, the API population has grown larger than other ethnic groups, especially in public schools. For example, in California there are twice as many API students (12%) as African-Americans (6%). In some prominent school districts such as San Francisco, APIs are the “majority” minority with 40% of the student population, larger than the Latinos (30%), Whites (14%) and African-Americans (9%). Much of this growth is the result of recent immigration. While immigrant communities often see education as the source of social mobility, in many API communities, education holds additional cultural and religious significance. Education leaders across the reform spectrum should be appealing to this natural interest and building API support for the reforms necessary to improve public schools. They can begin by dumping old stereotypes and embracing the diversity of the Asian community. Dump the Stereotypes Asian does not describe a people, race or appearance. It is a continent with dozens of nations and more than two-thirds of the world’s population. Adding every island in the Pacific increases that complexity. In a nation where you are often identified by your skin tone, you can’t label APIs. Depending on their ethnicity, Asians can be whiter than white mid-westerners, blacker than southern African-Americans and browner than border state Latinos. You can see this at a baseball game in Los Angeles or a subway train in Oakland where Samoan, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, Filipino and a dozen other “hyphen Americans” represent the community’s broad diversity. In education, Asians are often written off as high achievers with “Tiger” parents who care more about academics than their children’s emotional well-being. But when you disaggregate student outcome data by API ethnicity, a more complex picture emerges. Some groups perform at higher levels than white students. Other groups have wide achievement gaps and low college success rates. This variation is not always correlated with poverty or English Learner status. Some high-poverty API groups exhibit higher academic performance than far more advantaged white students. This complexity had largely been hidden inside the larger API category. It is rarely discussed by ed. reformers and even more rarely researched or responded to, even in western states with huge API communities. Reform activists should explore this complexity and learn more about the factors that produce this variation in results. Be Inclusive Reformers should also be more inclusive in their messaging, especially when talking about people of color. APIs come in a lot of colors. Yet most of the Ed Reform initiatives and organizations targeted at students of color, teachers of color and leaders of color either explicitly or implicitly exclude APIs. Strangely, many of these same initiatives are cited as examples of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) movement in education reform. For example, the latest “groundbreaking” report on the state of DEI in the nonprofit education community barely mentioned APIs. Panels on race at ed. reform conferences almost never include an Asian voice or face. The problem isn’t just exclusion. It’s the fake inclusion. For many ed. reform activists, Asians are “of color” when its beneficial – for example when counting the total number of students of color – and not when it isn’t, when developing programs or initiatives. It’s difficult to understand how education programs intended to promote diversity, equity and inclusion could purposely exclude APIs, especially when APIs are so poorly represented in the teaching ranks and among education leaders. Find the Issues That Matter Including the API community must mean more than just introducing them to the latest reform initiative. Instead of assuming interest, reformers need to reach out to different API communities to find out what they think about academic standards, testing, charter schools, personalized learning, etc. As the community expands in size and influence, the answers to these questions should matter, even when they contradict conventional wisdom. The lawsuit brought by Asian students against Harvard for its admission practices provides an interesting example of this. On the left and right of ed. reform, the suit has been framed as an attack on affirmative action. But a recent article in the New Yorker explains how the suit actually takes aim at the advantages enjoyed by white students in Ivy League admissions. Instead of exploring the full complexity of this issue, reformers chose to wedge it inside a familiar racial divide. Cut the Deference My final piece of advice is aimed at API leaders. Our nation’s racial dialogue places APIs, no matter what their history, in an uncomfortable no man’s land between the white community and other communities of color. APIs don’t benefit from old white boys’ and girls’ networks. But they aren’t perceived by some leaders as “oppressed enough” to get fully included in the people of color agenda. Asian leaders often defer to other groups to lead the education reform and racial dialogue. Nothing is more cliched and stereotypical than API deference. Asian leaders shouldn’t wait to be asked. This does not mean engaging in the “oppression Olympics” with other groups. As a younger community, APIs do not have the same history of oppression as other groups. That does not, however, make the education needs of API communities, parents and students any less important or relevant. Many API groups such as Chinese- and Japanese-Americans have painful histories in our country and many APIs have individually experienced racism and exclusion. But this conversation, where different groups compare historical and current insults to identify who has been the most oppressed, generates animosity instead of understanding. Instead of deferring to other groups, API leaders should take a leadership role in ed. reform. They should challenge those education leaders who exclude and ignore them and find true partners and allies. They should forge a reform agenda that fully encompasses our nation’s growing diversity, knowing that by doing so, they will better equip our children to succeed in a similarly diverse world. — Arun Ramanathan 16 Likes 2 Comments Like Comment Share See all Experience Pivot Learning CEO Company NamePivot Learning Dates EmployedMay 2014 – Present Employment Duration5 yrs 4 mos LocationSan Francisco Bay Area CEO of California's largest non-profit educational services organization partnering with over 100+ school districts annually in California and nationally. Education Trust-West Executive Director Company NameEducation Trust-West Dates EmployedJan 2010 – May 2014 Employment Duration4 yrs 5 mos LocationOakland, CA California's leading research, advocacy and policy organization focused on closing opportunity and achievement gaps for low-income students and students of color. San Diego Unified School District Chief Student Services Officer Company NameSan Diego Unified School District Dates EmployedMay 2006 – Nov 2009 Employment Duration3 yrs 7 mos LocationGreater San Diego Area Led the re-organized Student Services Division composed of multiple departments including special education, counseling and guidance, mental health services, nursing, etc., with a combined budget of over $350 million and over 4500 personnel. Education Harvard University Graduate School of Education Harvard University Graduate School of Education Degree NameDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Field Of StudyAdministration, Planning and Social Policy Dates attended or expected graduation 2001 – 2007 Activities and Societies: Selected for the Harvard Education Review Boston College - Lynch School of Education Boston College - Lynch School of Education Degree NameMaster's Degree Field Of StudyEducation Dates attended or expected graduation 1996 – 1998 Dartmouth College Dartmouth College Degree NameBachelor's Degree Field Of StudyPolitical Science and Government Dates attended or expected graduation 1987 – 1991 Activities and Societies: Daily Dartmouth Dartmouth Outing Club Fire and Skoal Bones Gate Fraternity Volunteer Experience Families In Schools Member Board Of Directors Company NameFamilies In Schools Dates volunteeredJun 2012 – Present Volunteer duration7 yrs 3 mos Cause Education Carlston Family Foundation Member Board Of Directors Company NameCarlston Family Foundation Dates volunteeredJun 2012 – Present Volunteer duration7 yrs 3 mos Cause Education Linked Learning Alliance Vice Chair Board Of Directors Company NameLinked Learning Alliance Dates volunteeredJun 2014 – Present Volunteer duration5 yrs 3 mos Cause Education GO Public Schools Member Board Of Directors Company NameGO Public Schools Dates volunteeredJun 2011 – Present Volunteer duration8 yrs 3 mos Cause Education Californians For Justice Member Board Of Directors Company NameCalifornians For Justice Dates volunteeredJun 2012 – Jun 2015 Volunteer duration3 yrs 1 mo Cause Education