Benjamin W. Cottingham
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Benjamin W. Cottingham
Associate Director, Strategic Partnerships,
Policy Analysis for California Education, Stanford University
Benjamin W. Cottingham is the associate director of strategic partnerships at Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE). His work focuses on improving educational systems to better support effective teaching and learning, with a particular emphasis on how each level of California’s educational system can strengthen their support for schools and teachers. His current research explores strategies to increase A–G eligibility for college, enhance coherence from pre–K through third grade, and integrate AI tools into education safely and responsibly. Cottingham earned his MA in education policy from Stanford University.
updated 2025
Publications by Benjamin W. Cottingham
How California Districts Create Access and Coherent Systems
California’s ambitious investment in Universal Transitional Kindergarten (UTK) reflects a commitment to providing access to UTK for all 4-year-olds in public schools by the 2025–26 academic year. However, the implementation of transitional…
Early Insights from a CCEE School-Improvement Pilot
Student achievement in California has not rebounded after the precipitous declines of the COVID-19 pandemic, with English language arts (ELA) and math scores remaining well below prepandemic levels. Student attendance has declined dramatically, and…
Improvement Team Leads’ Perspectives on Fitting Improvement Work to Their Sites
This chapter in an edited book focuses on the work of two improvement network hubs in California as they tried to support participating districts and schools to improve the proportion of students “on-track” for post-secondary success. California has…
CORE’s Approach
Educators face a dilemma of staying up-to-date with evidence-based practices while dealing with superficial ideas. Continuous improvement methods can help in testing new ideas but if seen as add-ons, they may not yield sustained improvement. This…