Connect with Grayson
“I joined Public Impact and its Opportunity Culture initiative because I believe in—and trust!—teachers to innovate and implement the best solutions for the kids they serve, if the district has the right structures in place to give them the time, autonomy, and authority they so rightly deserve.”
Grayson Cooper
Assistant Vice President, Opportunity Culture Innovation and Implementation Support
Grayson Cooper is the assistant vice president for Opportunity Culture innovation and implementation support at Public Impact, conducting quantitative research and analysis and assisting schools and districts with Opportunity Culture implementation. Before joining Public Impact, he spent three years as a math teacher and instructional technology facilitator at Northampton County High School in northeastern North Carolina through Teach For America. Cooper’s roles included deploying and managing a one-to-one laptop initiative, facilitating teacher professional development, and leading a district-wide recruitment initiative. While at Northampton County High School, he co-founded ENC-STEM, a summer program that prepares students for honors, AP, and college-level coursework. Cooper holds a bachelor’s degree in educational entrepreneurship and mathematics, with a minor in business, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from which he graduated with honors after attending as a Morehead-Cain Scholar. He holds a master’s degree in education from East Carolina University, and a master’s degree in library and information science with a concentration in instructional technology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Example projects: Cooper is focusing on Opportunity Culture design, implementation, and evaluation, including assisting with district and school design in Phoenix-area schools; developing the Opportunity Culture School Excellence Portal; and evaluating both the quantitative and qualitative impact of the Opportunity Culture initiative. He co-created the Opportunity Culture Dashboard, which displays that impact. Other recent work includes identifying high-performing charter school authorizers for further study, and developing a tool that teacher residency programs can use to model their budgets, improve sustainability, and scale up their programs.