Andrew J. Rotherham is a co-founder and partner at Bellwether Education Partners, a national nonprofit organization working to support educational innovation and improve educational outcomes for underserved students. Rotherham leads Bellwether’s thought leadership and policy analysis work. He is also the executive editor of Real Clear Education, part of the Real Clear Politics family of news and analysis websites, a contributing editor to U.S. News & World Report, writes the blog Eduwonk.com, teaches courses on education policy at universities including The University of Virginia, and is co-publisher of “Education Insider,” a federal policy analysis tool produced by Whiteboard Advisors. Rotherham previously served at The White House as Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy during the Clinton administration, as a former member of the Virginia Board of Education, and was education columnist for TIME. In addition to Bellwether, Rotherham has founded or co-founded two other education organizations and served on the boards of several other successful education start-ups.
Rotherham is the author or co-author of more than 300 published articles, book chapters, papers, and op-eds about education policy and politics and is the author or editor of four books on educational policy. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Curry School of Education Foundation at the University of Virginia, The 74, and the International Board of Directors for Classroom Champions, a Canada-based nonprofit that pairs Olympic and Paralympic athletes with high-poverty classrooms and schools. Rotherham is a fellow and moderator in the Aspen Global Leadership Network and serves on advisory boards for a variety of organizations including Education Pioneers, the National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research, the Center for Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington, and The National Young Farmers Coalition.
Rotherham believes dramatic improvements in America’s education system are integral to increasing social mobility and building a more equitable and just society.
He lives in Virginia with his wife and two daughters.