This week Harvard’s Education Next released its yearly ranking of “Top Education Policy People and Organizations on Social Media” I am excited to say that the Network for Public Education placed four folks in the top 16!
#1 Diane Ravitch
#4 Xian Barrett
#8 Julian Vasquez Heilig
#16 Anthony Cody
I am also honored to be the #2 ranked professor in the nation. Being #2 to Diane Ravitch ain’t so bad.
Here’s what Mike Petrilli had to say about the annual ranking:
After taking last year off, we’re back with our (mostly) annual look at who is dominating Twitter and other forms of social media in the education policy world. This exercise is inevitably unscientific and subjective, so please take it with a grain of salt. Still, the trends are always interesting and telling. And who doesn’t love a good list?
First, let’s cover the fine print: Keep in mind that these lists are limited to people who mostly comment on K-12 education policy (so not pre-school, and not higher ed). See our sidebar, “Other educators to follow,” for folks who mostly share ideas about teaching or ed tech, or mostly opine on politics. And see here for an explanation of Klout scores, which measure social media influence across a wide range of platforms. Klout scores and Twitter followers are as of August 20. Thanks to the Fordham Institute’s Anthony Nguyen for his heroic efforts in gathering all of the data. Any mistakes or omissions are my own.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at the results.
Top Education Policy People on Social Media by Klout Score
| 2017 Rank | Name | Handle | Klout Score | 2015 Rank | 2014 Rank | Number of Twitter Followers |
| 1 | Diane Ravitch | @DianeRavitch | 82 | 2 | 2 | 143,866 |
| 1 | Randi Weingarten | @rweingarten | 82 | 3 | 3 | 74,186 |
| 3 | John White | @RuralED | 77 | 4 | 6,090 | |
| 4 | Xian Franzinger Barrett | @xianb8 | 71 | 5 | 5 | 6,248 |
| 5 | Patrick Riccards | @Eduflack | 70 | 9 | 13 | 82,219 |
| 5 | Andy Smarick | @smarick | 70 | 7 | 8 | 18,376 |
| 7 | Tom Vander Ark | @tvanderark | 69 | 48,837 | ||
| 8 | Julian Vasquez Heilig | @ProfessorJVH | 68 | 9 | 6,368 | |
| 9 | Jose Vilson | @TheJLV | 67 | 6 | 7 | 23,542 |
| 10 | Michael Petrilli | @michaelpetrilli | 66 | 12 | 16 | 28,098 |
| 10 | Jonas Chartock | @jonaschartock | 66 | 12 | 24 | 16,284 |
| 10 | Jason Bedrick | @JasonBedrick | 66 | 21 | 2,923 | |
| 10 | Politics K-12 | @PoliticsK12 | 66 | 21 | 23 | 47,778 |
| 14 | Lily Eskelsen García | @Lily_NEA | 65 | 18,137 | ||
| 15 | Rusul Alrubail | @RusulAlrubail | 64 | 19 | 10,769 | |
| 16 | Joshua Starr | @JoshuaPStarr | 63 | 21 | 19,632 | |
| 16 | Anthony Cody | @anthonycody | 63 | 19 | 6 | 14,401 |
| 16 | Arne Duncan | @arneduncan | 63 | 1 | 1 | 11,810 |
| 16 | Chris Stewart | @citizenstewart | 63 | 7,435 | ||
| 16 | John Bailey | @John_Bailey | 63 | 6,377 | ||
| 21 | Alexander Russo | @alexanderrusso | 62 | 16 | 20 | 24,163 |
| 21 | Dana Goldstein | @DanaGoldstein | 62 | 21,538 | ||
| 21 | Libby Nelson | @libbyanelson | 62 | 21 | 23 | 14,426 |
| 24 | Greg Toppo | @gtoppo | 61 | 25,501 | ||
| 24 | Rick Hess | @rickhess99 | 61 | 13,690 | ||
| 24 | Caitlin Emma | @caitlinzemma | 61 | 10,969 | ||
| 24 | Michael Horn | @MichaelBHorn | 61 | 9,671 | ||
| 24 | Peter Cunningham | @PCunningham57 | 61 | 8,844 | ||
| 24 | Nate Bowling | @nate_bowling | 61 | 8,226 | ||
| 24 | Peter Greene | @palan57 | 61 | 16 | 5,018 | |
| 24 | Morgan Polikoff | @mpolikoff | 61 | 16 | 25 | 4,980 |
Here’s Mike’s analysis:
So what to make of this? The main theme is stability. Most of the folks on these lists have been there before, and the rankings don’t change much. And yet again, a 70-something-year-old grandmother is crushing all of us. Good show, Diane. Good show.
For the entire set of Education Next’s 2017 rankings go here.
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