Rebecca Winthrop
Rebecca Winthrop is a globally recognized leader in education, and is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution and Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University. Her work focuses on ensuring all young people, especially the most marginalized, develop the skills they need to thrive in work, life, and as engaged citizens. She leads innovative research on transforming education systems, including the role of families, communities, and emerging technologies in accelerating student agency, engagement and learning.
Winthrop currently leads the Brookings Global Task Force on AI in Education and has co-authored a book on student engagement, The Disengaged Teen: Helping Kids Learn Better, Feel Better, and Live Better. A trusted adviser to governments, schools, parent networks, international institutions, foundations, and companies, her expertise has informed efforts at the United Nations, the White House, State and school district leaders, and Fortune 500 firms. Prior to Brookings, she spent 15 years working on education for displaced and conflict-affected communities, including as head of education for the International Rescue Committee.
Jal Mehta
Jal Mehta is a tenured professor of education and faculty co-chair, Learning Design, Innovation, and Technology at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. A sociologist by training, his work focuses on how to remake the industrial-era school system into a modern learning organization that creates passion and purpose for both students and adults.
He is the co-author with Sarah Fine, of In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School (Harvard University Press, 2019), a contemporary study of schools, systems, and nations seeking to produce powerful teaching and learning. He is also the co-director of the Deeper Learning Dozen, a network of 12 districts across the United States and Canada who are transforming their systems to support deep and equitable learning for all students. His latest book, A Chance to Solve Their Own Problems, will be released in August 2026. Jal received his Ph.D. in Sociology and Social Policy from Harvard University.
