Dr. Arun Ramanathan is the CEO of Pivot Learning, an Oakland, California-based nonprofit that works with 100 high-need school districts in eighteen states. Pivot’s mission is to partner with educators to design and implement solutions to their greatest challenges in achieving educational justice. Pivot’s services focus on increasing academic rigor for historically underserved students: Pivot helps districts design and implement systems of prevention and intervention for their most vulnerable students, and adopt and implement high-quality, standards-aligned curriculum. Over the past four years, Pivot and EdReports have worked together on Calcurriculum.org, which provides California districts with independent reviews and resources regarding selecting instructional materials.
Prior to leading Pivot, Arun served as the Executive Director of the Education Trust West, California’s leading education policy, research and advocacy organization. He previously served as Chief Student Services Officer in the San Diego Unified School District. He started his career as a special education teacher and paraprofessional.
Arun 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 University’s Graduate School of Education.