Dr. Sean Simone joined the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) in 2025 as the Vice President of Research for COE and the Director of the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Education. Sean brings nearly two decades of expertise in state and federal education data and policy. Prior to joining COE, Sean worked at the National Center for Education Statistics within the U.S. Department of Education over 10 years. He served as served as Associate Commissioner, Branch Chief, and Survey Director overseeing education longitudinal surveys, financial aid studies, and institutional data collections.
In addition, Sean also has expertise in workforce development research and served as the Director of Research and Evaluation at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. In this capacity, he was the project director for New Jersey's Statewide Longitudinal Data System connecting education data to other state data sources. Sean still teaches graduate level courses at Rutgers including Higher Education Policy and Survey Research.
Sean has a Ph.D. in Education Policy from the University of Maryland at College Park.