The Delta Issue #85

For Watershed’s 5th birthday, our staff share the work they’re most proud of

This week, we have a very special bonus edition of The Delta to mark an important milestone: Watershed Advisors’s fifth birthday. 

When we launched Watershed Advisors with John White in April of 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic was still raging. Thousands of schools across the country had been closed to in-person learning for a full calendar year. The vaccine was only just becoming available to Americans over the age of 50.

This was what the world looked like when a mighty team of six gathered on Jill Zimmerman Pinsky ‘s screened porch in New Orleans wearing sweatpants and masks—the official uniform of the pandemic era—with a vision to help state education leadership materially improve the classroom experience for kids in every school.

The Watershed Advisors team at our first annual holiday party in December 2021.

Fast forward five years, and our team is 50+ strong and still growing. The brilliant and hardworking people you see in this photo are the reason Watershed Advisors is known for such great work. These talented individuals could do anything with their careers, and they have devoted themselves to helping make our public education systems work better for kids. 

The Watershed Advisors team at our annual holiday party in December 2025.

So today, Kunjan and I are taking a backseat, and our team is going to share some of the work they are most proud of from our first five years. We hope this list introduces you to a new idea that sparks inspiration and optimism for what’s possible when we work together. 

Enjoy!

1. Helping scale education tools that materially improve the lives of kids and teachers

The statistics on education technology are staggering: U.S. teachers use on average 50 education products in their classrooms. And yet, too often, the products that are good for teachers and kids don’t reach the classrooms that need them most. 

Over the last five years, our team has worked with over 100 organizations to change that. Many of our clients are building solutions to challenges that haven’t been solved, and our work is about making sure those solutions don’t just exist, but also scale.

“What makes me hopeful is that there is a growing coalition of organizations who have a direct line to the day-to-day instructional experience of students, and they are designing and scaling materials and tools that will meaningfully change that experience for the better. These aren’t organizations operating at a distance from classrooms. They are building for teachers and kids, and they are doing it with more rigor and more ambition than the market has historically demanded. That coalition is getting bigger, and we’re proud to be in it with them.” — Kristi-Jo P. , Managing Director at Watershed Advisors 

2. Improving K-12 outcomes in Arkansas

The Arkansas Department of Education has been a longtime partner of ours, and we have been amazed by the amount of progress their K–12 schools have made since the LEARNS Act was enacted in 2023.

In February, we wrote about our visit to a school in Jacksonville, AR that went from an F to a B on the state’s school rating system in less than five years. But there was a highlight from that visit that didn’t make it into the article: As we toured the school, we saw leaders and teachers using the school report cards that our team had supported the state education agency to design, sharing their insights without knowing that our team had originated those very rubrics. 

To see the things we create for our clients being useful—and being used!—to drive better K–12 outcomes is one of the most rewarding parts of this work. The only thing that matters more is seeing improvements show up in students’ everyday experiences.

“Arkansas is proof that simple, user-friendly school report cards are a powerful tool to influence school leader actions. Accountability systems are more than just the overall school rating—they are tools to help school leaders see where students are growing and where they are stagnating. All of that information can be quickly gleaned on the front page of the school report card, and it’s really fun to see school leaders putting their new insights into action.” — Jill Zimmerman Pinsky , Managing Director at Watershed Advisors

For more on school accountability, check out our measurement playbook.    

3. Unifying early childhood education in Colorado

As we’ve written often in the Delta, early childhood education in most states is not a coherent system, but a fragmented patchwork of funding streams and settings, overburdening families and providers and underdelivering for kids . But in Colorado, early childhood education is overseen by a central standalone Department of Early Childhood—and helping Governor Jared Polis establish this new agency is one of our team’s first and proudest accomplishments.

Our work laid the foundation for what Colorado leaders have since built: Colorado’s Universal Preschool program.

“Watershed’s support was integral to building the kind of coalition necessary to push our early childhood system to the next level.” — Allie Kimmel , Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Legislative Affairs, Office of Governor Jared Polis at State of Colorado

4. Building the innovative States Leading Network with CCSSO

Over the past year, the federal government has shifted more responsibility than ever before onto the shoulders of state leaders. To help states respond to these mounting pressures, we teamed up with Council of Chief State School Officers to create the States Leading Network, a nonpartisan network for state leaders to connect with their peers and share strategies for improving student outcomes. 

“Through the States Leading Network, we are getting to partner with CCSSO and eight leading state teams to help reimagine the future of American education– grappling with the real student challenges while envisioning what is possible for them. It is a privilege to wake up every day and work alongside dedicated public servants who are determined to do right by kids and put every student first 365 days of the year.” — Merlyn Tejada , Director at Watershed Advisors

“What’s most impactful to me about the States Leading Network is the scale. We’ve worked with CCSSO to create intentional spaces for eight states to come together and tackle difficult problems with no clear answers. That work has the potential to impact tens of millions of kids across the country, and it’s pretty incredible to get to be part of it.” — Elise Alexander , Director at Watershed Advisors

5. Launching the New Mexico Unified Application to help NM school districts make the most of their education dollars

If you’re a longtime reader of The Delta, you’ve probably come across an idea we call “Super App”—a strategic finance tool that consolidates federal and state funding streams into one grant application for school districts. We first rolled out the Super App when we led @the Department of Education in Louisiana, and over the last five years our team has helped several other states create their own unified applications.

Before, district leaders might have had to submit 30 different grant applications on 30 different timelines, creating confusion, inefficiency, and incoherence. But having just ONE application puts an end to all that—and as a result, districts are able to set a coherent vision and manage a coherent budget.

For the 2026-27 school year, the New Mexico Public Education Department is rolling out its own version of the Super App, called the Unified Application. From now on, districts in New Mexico will get to spend less time submitting grant applications and more time planning and implementing their vision to improve outcomes for kids. 

“The New Mexico Unified Application showed what’s possible when a state agency rethinks how systems serve people—streamlining access to funding and helping educators focus on what matters to improve student outcomes.” — Michael Bock , Director at Watershed Advisors

Let’s Get Muddy

A final word to our friends and partners

From the beginning, we have set out to be an organization that doesn’t flinch at doing hard things. It takes a lot of talented people working together to bring the best ideas to life. To the hundreds of wonderful people in state education agencies across the country who have trusted us with their dreams and aspirations, thank you. We are proud to walk alongside you. 

Here’s to the next five years!