STEVE FLEISCHMAN

Steve Fleischman recently retired as CEO of Education Northwest. Beginning in 2012, he provided executive leadership for the Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit. Through more than 200 projects per year, Education Northwest partners with teachers; school administrators; state department personnel and leaders; local, state, and national policymakers; families; students; and community members on applied research, evaluation, professional development, and technical assistance efforts that strengthen schools and communities. He joined the organization in 2009 as its Deputy Executive Director, leading its programmatic work as well as directing the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Northwest.

Fleischman began his 35-year education career as a middle and high school social studies teacher. Since the early 1990s he has served in leadership positions in numerous nonprofit organizations.

Before joining Education Northwest, Fleischman was a vice president at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and later created and led its office of Communications and Public Affairs. Fleischman developed and led several projects, including the Scientific Evidence in Education Forums. He served as the first communications director and member of the leadership team of the What Works Clearinghouse. Prior to joining AIR, he created and served as the founding Executive Director of the Education Quality Institute, a nonprofit created to provide reliable information and tools to help educators, parents and families, policymakers, and the public judge and successfully implement evidence-based education programs and practices.

Fleischman is a frequent author and presenter on the topic of evidence-based policymaking and practice in education. He has served as member of more than a dozen advisory committees or technical working groups of national and state-level research, school improvement, and youth development initiatives.

In addition to his board service for SREE, Fleischman serves as a board member of two other nonprofits: NWEA and the Forum for Youth Investment. Until his retirement, he served as the co-chairperson of Oregon Business and Industry’s Education & Workforce Development Steering Committee. In the past decade, he has served twice as the chairperson of Knowledge Alliance.