Duncan Robb Bio
Duncan Robb, Director & Associate Principal of Innovation and Policy, K12
Duncan Robb leads HCM’s K-12 education policy practice, including the team’s work on broadband connectivity, per-pupil expenditure, accountability, school improvement, and capacity building at the state and local levels. He partners with state education agencies and other education policy, advocacy, and capacity-building organizations to scale critical messages and promising strategies for improving education. As a long-time partner to education chiefs and senior leaders in state education agencies across the United States, Duncan understands the value of strategic focus and fidelity of implementation in order to create lasting change. He has an extensive background in education, most recently serving as an education policy and implementation consultant for his own practice in Boise, Idaho. He began his career in education teaching 6th-grade math in Houston, Texas as a Teach for America corps member. He currently lives in Boise.
HCM Strategists is a mission-driven consultancy whose K-12 team represents decades of experience at the highest levels of government and philanthropy leading public opinion research, policy research and analysis, as well as strategic communications. HCM brings decades of expertise in developing research-based messaging, materials, and strategies to reach key audiences. A core focus of HCM’s work has been supporting states in their efforts to improve performance reporting and support key messengers, including teachers, principals, and district-level leaders, in communicating data in an easy-to-understand way. HCM supports an extensive body of research leading state technical assistance on behalf of the national nonprofit Learning Heroes, including more than 125 qualitative sessions (in-depth interviews and focus groups) and multiple state-specific and national surveys on how to effectively communicate complex student and school-level data to families, educators, and other stakeholders. HCM has also worked with partners to find promising COVID-19 school district reopening plans across the country and has a long history of advocating for the effective use of formative and summative assessments accompanied by parent-friendly results.