Background:

Paul Beach is an associate partner with Bellwether in the Policy and Evaluation practice area. Prior to joining Bellwether in 2021, Paul worked as a research associate at Inflexion, formerly the Educational Policy Improvement Center. In this role, Paul provided research and evaluation support on a variety of projects for partners that spanned the education sector, including federal agencies, state departments of education, districts and schools, philanthropic foundations, and nonprofit organizations. Paul’s research at Inflexion/EPIC centered on postsecondary readiness with a focus on helping partners identify the knowledge and skills students need to be successful after high school. Paul’s other areas of research at Inflexion included school accountability policy, school improvement theory and practice, and the role of metacognition in education.

While at Inflexion/EPIC, Paul also worked for the Center for Equity Promotion at the University of Oregon as a graduate employee, where he provided research and project management support for an Institute of Education Sciences grant to promote academic success and positive behavioral outcomes for Latinx students by leveraging school-family partnerships. While at the University of Oregon, Paul also conducted independent research on topics such as school accountability policy, accelerated coursework access, and rural and remote education. Paul holds a Ph.D. in quantitative research methods in education and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Oregon, as well as bachelor’s degrees in political science and economics from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Paul lives in Eugene, Oregon, with his wife and son.

Why I do this work: