Jonathan Travers
Director
617.607.8965
Jonathan works with districts to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of district allocation and use of resources in schools. Jonathan leads several district projects, including the ongoing work in Atlanta and Charlotte. This work has included examining each district’s funding strategy, mapping current resource use, and reallocating to support specific district goals, as well as overseeing strategic school design development in both districts. In Atlanta, his work includes the ongoing development of an innovative Teacher Effectiveness Dashboard, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In Charlotte, ERS has supported the development of the district’s Strategic Staffing Initiative that is turning around many of its lowest performing schools. He has also managed or supported projects in Sacramento, Philadelphia, Boston, Oakland, Los Angeles and Rochester.
Previously, Jonathan was Vice-President of Finance and Administration at Teach For America (TFA), where he was responsible for the organization’s overall financial health and all resource allocation processes. He helped TFA more than double in size over five years while simultaneously strengthening its financial position and making substantial programmatic improvements. As budget director of the D.C. Public Schools, Jonathan oversaw a $1 billion operating budget and led the development and implementation of the Weighted Student Formula, a school-based funding system designed to equitably and strategically allocate resources to schools. He was also an analyst at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget where he had responsibility for the budget development and management of a portfolio of federal education programs. Jonathan began his career as an elementary school teacher in Compton, CA through Teach For America.
Outside of work, Jonathan has already hooked his two pre-school age sons on a cappella music and Boston sports teams, and now eagerly awaits the day they conclude independently that traditional baseball statistics, like batting average, are wildly imperfect measures of player performance.
