Jill Zimmerman Pinsky

Jill Pinsky is a Managing Director at Watershed Advisors, leading a team dedicated to helping state governments and their partners to advance K-12 state education systems that clearly define what learners need, measure impact, and hold leaders accountable. With over a decade of experience in K-12 education, Jill is known for her unique ability to leverage data to drive strategy and innovation and for her deep commitment to success for all students.

A founding member of Watershed Advisors, Jill has supported education leaders and policymakers in at least six states to build effective state assessment, accountability, and data systems; design high-accountability school choice programs that maximize access to quality education for all kids; and align incentives for college and career preparation with outcomes data. A key thought partner to national organizations and practitioners, Jill is now developing a measurement playbook to support states in states in refining their assessment and accountability strategies.

Previously, Jill served as Deputy Assistant Superintendent at the Louisiana Department of Education, where she overhauled the state’s accountability system under ESSA, significantly raising expectations for educators and designing the state’s first student growth measure used in school accountability. She also helped launch LouisianaSchools.com, the nation’s first comprehensive, birth-12 website to inform parent choice and to engage educators in order to improve student outcomes. Prior to her time at the LDOE, Jill served as lead research manager at Tulane University’s Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives and operations manager at The New Teacher Project. She is proud to call New Orleans home.