Anand Vaishnav Senior Consultant
Anand has seen education reform unfold from the vantage points of a reporter for a prominent newspaper and a leader of a major urban school district. In his time at Education First, Anand has played key roles on the inside and outside of four states’ Race to the Top efforts: He managed the teams that worked on the successful Maryland and Tennessee Race to the Top applications, helped write Colorado’s winning Race to the Top grant, analyzed Massachusetts’ first year of Race to the Top implementation, and assisted the Baltimore City Public Schools with creating coherent policies and plans for accessing Race to the Top dollars. He also played significant roles on research projects for Achieve and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and helped write strategic plans or research papers for EdVestors, Hope Street Group, and the Texas High School Project.
From 2005-2009, Anand served as chief of staff to the superintendent of the Boston Public Schools. In this role, he managed the day-to-day operations of the Superintendent's office in the 55,000-student school district. He served as a liaison between the superintendent and the system's external partners, helped craft and communicate various policy initiatives, and assisted in districtwide academic and operational planning efforts.
Prior to joining the Boston Public Schools, Anand worked as an education reporter for The Boston Globe from 2000 to 2005. He wrote about some of the biggest news stories in Massachusetts education reform, such as the implementation of testing and accountability, the growth of charter schools, voter-approved initiatives to end bilingual education, and crippling financial crises. Before the Globe, Anand spent three years at The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, where he covered suburban schools, New Orleans public schools, and state education issues, including the start of Louisiana's standards and accountability system. He co-authored an award-winning package of stories that exposed abuses of teacher benefits and led to changes in Louisiana state law.
Anand holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a master's degree in education from Harvard University's Graduate School of Education. A native of Texas, he now lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his family.