As the Director of Strategic Initiatives and External Affairs, Dr. Gold is actively cultivating partnerships with other research institutes, universities, funders and districts to share ideas and coordinate activities. In addition, Dr. Gold is playing a central role in developing the Alliance’s research agenda, future projects and overall mission. Dr. Gold’s research interests are focused in the area of school accountability and reform; he is currently working on a project that examines data-driven decision making and its practice in schools.

Prior to coming to the Research Alliance, Dr. Gold worked at the New York City Department of Education for 7 years. During his tenure at the DOE, Dr. Gold was the Director for External Research, Evaluation and Reporting for the DOE’s Research and Policy Support Division. Dr. co-managed a team of education analysts and researchers to provide high quality reports and analytics for senior policy makers at the DOE and others regarding student achievement and other key indicators. Dr. Gold also managed large-scale evaluations of DOE programs by external research firms and worked closely with funders on grant supported evaluations. As the chair of the DOE’s Institutional Review board, Dr. Gold led the committee that reviewed all requests for research in NYC public schools to ensure the proper treatment of research subjects.

Before entering the field of K-12 education, Dr. Gold taught political science at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield Connecticut and ran the university’s study abroad program in Luxembourg. Dr. Gold received his Ph.D. in Political Science at the New School for Social Research in 2000 and published The Lega Nord and Contemporary Politics in Italy (Palgrave, 2003). Dr. Gold also received a Fulbright Fellowship to conduct research in Bologna Italy in 1997.

thomas.gold@nyu.edu 

1 212.998.5887