Q&A with Christopher Leake, Cohort 5 SDP Fellow Alumnus
What drew you to the SDP Fellowship? What did you do prior to the SDP Fellowship? How did you get started in the education data/policy field?
Before applying to SDP, I was an economic researcher at a research organization named MDRC. Many of our staff had partnered with CEPR on various research studies. As I learned more about the program I was very drawn to the rigorous college and talent diagnostics SDP prepared for their partner agencies and the opportunities for fellows to participate in the deep research partnerships with faculty during the early cohorts.
What is the most memorable or impactful moment or experience from your time as an SDP Fellow?
I was working in New York State as the fellow for College and Career Readiness under Commissioner John B. King's leadership. It was an exciting time for New York. During this time, Governor Andrew Cuomo was attempting to stimulate economic growth and development in Upstate New York. He invested significantly in the sTtart-Up NY Development Fund meant to bring businesses and jobs to the area. We seized the momentum of this initiative to accelerate skills training in advance manufacturing, welding and robotics in order to prepare CTE students for these new jobs as well as grow their technical skills. This led to the multiple pathways to graduation work that changed the types of diplomas students could earn, with a pathway to industry certified credentials being a viable path to employment for our graduates. While the overall Start-Up NY program underperformed, our ability to impact graduates in the state was a success with 408 students securing newly created jobs in year 1.
Tell us about your current job.
I am the National Senior Vice President for Program Impact, Learning and Evaluation at Teach For America. My division is responsible for organization-wide research, analytics, applications administration, strategic consulting and data governance. Much of my role focuses on helping our 40 regions and national teams right-size the role data and research must play in their strategies. We set the organization’s key performance metrics, track classroom outcomes, and partner with key external partners to conduct research on our impact in the communities we serve.
What skills did you gain from your time as an SDP Fellow that you find helpful in your current role?
I learned 2 lessons:
- It's important to know when to let something fail in order to learn from the failure, regroup, and improve practice; and
- The best way to get others invested in your data/research strategy is to find the entry point that is at the intersection of their pain point and the relevant challenges that are focused on solving.
What advice would you give for prospective SDP Fellows? What would you say to encourage prospective applicants to apply?
To anyone who's ever been a researcher/data analyst, but feel your work is too removed from the day-to-day impact on how agencies operate or anyone who is already in an agency, but feels like data champion on an isolated island, SDP is for you! If you've ever wanted to use education data to make a difference in a legitimate, actionable, and real-time manner, the SDP Fellowship is designed to triangulate the conditions of your success. Your agency resources, SDP’s supports, and members in your cohort create the wraparound conditions to drive actionable progress and hold parties accountable to results.
What is something you enjoy in your free time?
In my free time I enjoy listening to opera and classical music. I'm involved in philanthropy at Carnegie Hall, The Metropolitan Opera and The Park Armory in New York City.
Please feel free to share anything else relevant or any other fun facts about yourself.
Prior to being passionate about education research, I studied the economic impact of post-soviet economies with the collapse of the Russian Ruble. I have extensive ties to the region, the Baltics in particular, and spend a lot of time in Latvia when my schedule permits.