Thad Nodine, Ph.D., president of Nodine Consulting, is a novelist and researcher who writes articles, op eds, reports, blogs, and other material to change education and social policy and practices for the benefit of students and communities. He finds popular stories in research projects, reframes findings for broader public purposes and audiences, and highlights the perspectives of “leaders in the middle”–that is, workers, teachers, faculty, staff, students, teens. For 25 years in the education sphere, Thad has partnered with researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to advance policies and practices that help more students achieve their education and career goals, particularly Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and other Students of Color, those from low-income families, and first-generation college students.
Now more than ever this country needs an educated populace standing up for their communities. Now more than ever we need community engagement to address climate change and social justice.
Services: Writing, Educational Leadership, Content Strategy, Story Development, Developmental Editing, Blogging, Ghostwriting, and Strategic Communications. Well versed in data and finance, writing for impact, and writing coaching.
Two work samples:
Power of Student Perspectives in Changing Policy: One Shot Deal? (Andrea Venezia, Kathy Bracco, and Thad Nodine, WestEd, 2010) was groundbreaking in bringing students’ voices into a policy conversation in California (and nationally) where they’d been shut out: the arbitrariness of assessment and placement practices in higher education. Now the California Community Colleges, the California State University, and other postsecondary systems have abolished remedial education as it was known at that time, which eliminates a structural barrier to equity.
Momentum for Racial Justice: Toward Racial Justice in California’s Education Systems (Thad Nodine, Education Insights Center, Sacramento State University, 2022) engages a dialogue for public policies that support systemic equity and anti-racism in California education. This introduction to state policy reveals chronic and persistent disparities by race across K-12 and higher education in California, examines the statewide structures that present challenges in addressing these disparities, and explores state levers for change.