With twenty-five years of experience working at the intersection of research, policy, and practice in the fields of education and workforce development, Gretchen Rhines Cheney strives to advance and highlight systems-wide innovations and effective practices to improve educational outcomes and economic opportunity.  

As PAROS Group’s founder, Gretchen brings a deep understanding of the educational landscape and helps clients to identify and address key policy challenges by collecting and organizing relevant data and resources, sharing insights on emerging trends and changes in education policy, developing high-impact recommendations, and producing effective communication pieces. In combination with her broad subject matter expertise, policy analysis capabilities, and research and writing skills, she is skilled at project planning, operation, and management. 

Previously (and in tandem until recently), Gretchen served as Senior Policy Analyst at the National Center on Education and the Economy where she contributed to research on the world’s leading education systems and analyzed U.S. state education systems in comparison to those benchmarks. She worked with state and district policymakers, providing strategic advice and helping them translate NCEE’s research and the design of top-performing education systems to inform their own policies and practices. Gretchen served as one of the primary consultants to the Maryland Commission on Excellence and Innovation and led projects focusing on college and career readiness and career and technical education.

Gretchen earned a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University and a B.A. from the University of California at San Diego.