Jim Blew is the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Planning Evaluation and Policy Development at the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to joining the Department, Jim advocated for education reform across the country. His roles included serving as the director of the 50CAN affiliate Student Success California, the national president of StudentsFirst, and national director for the Alliance for School Choice and its predecessor, the American Education Reform Council. Jim also helped guide the Walton Family Foundation's K 12 Reform investments for nearly a decade. Before committing himself full-time to education reform, Jim worked at political and communications firms in New York and California. He holds a BA from Occidental College and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.