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 |
Top Education Policy People on Social Media by Twitter Followers
| 2017 Rank | Name | Handle | Number of Twitter Followers | Klout Score | 2015 Rank | 2014 Rank | |
| 1 | Diane Ravitch | @DianeRavitch | 143,866 | 82 | 2 | 2 | |
| 2 | Patrick Riccards | @Eduflack | 82,219 | 70 | 9 | 13 | |
| 3 | Randi Weingarten | @rweingarten | 74,186 | 82 | 3 | 3 | |
| 4 | Alfie Kohn | @alfiekohn | 66,081 | N/A | |||
| 5 | Betsy DeVos | @BetsyDeVosED | 57,105 | N/A | |||
| 6 | Steve Perry | @DrStevePerry | 56,028 | N/A | |||
| 7 | Tom Vander Ark | @tvanderark | 48,837 | 69 | |||
| 8 | Politics K-12 | @PoliticsK12 | 47,778 | 66 | 21 | 23 | |
| 9 | Nikole Hannah-Jones | @nhannahjones | 42,384 | N/A | |||
| 10 | Valerie Strauss | @valeriestrauss | 39,273 | N/A | |||
| 11 | Liz Hill | @EdPressSec | 37,430 | N/A | |||
| 12 | Michael Petrilli | @michaelpetrilli | 28,098 | 66 | 12 | 16 | |
| 13 | Pedro Noguera | @PedroANoguera | 25,865 | N/A | |||
| 14 | Greg Toppo | @gtoppo | 25,501 | 61 | |||
| 15 | Alexander Russo | @alexanderrusso | 24,163 | 62 | 16 | 20 | |
| 16 | Jose Vilson | @TheJLV | 23,542 | 67 | 6 | 7 | |
| 17 | Dana Goldstein | @DanaGoldstein | 21,538 | 62 | |||
| 18 | Andrew Rotherham | @arotherham | 21,431 | 60 | |||
| 19 | Anya Kamenetz | @anya1anya | 20,851 | N/A | |||
| 20 | Joshua Starr | @JoshuaPStarr | 19,632 | 63 | 21 | ||
| 21 | Joy Resmovits | @Joy_Resmovits | 19,175 | 60 | 12 | 21 | |
| 22 | Andy Smarick | @smarick | 18,376 | 70 | 7 | 8 | |
| 23 | Michael Barber | @MichaelBarber9 | 18,270 | 56 | |||
| 24 | Lily Eskelsen García | @Lily_NEA | 18,137 | 65 | |||
| 25 | Jonas Chartock | @jonaschartock | 16,284 | 66 | 12 | 24 | |
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.
Still, there are some welcome newcomers—whose rising prominence reflect the growing diversity of the movement—including Steve Perry, Chris Stewart, Nate Bowling, and Nikole Hannah-Jones. And that’s not even counting education’s TFA/Black Lives Matters superstars, Deray Mckesson and Brittany Packnett, who opine mostly about politics these days and thus are on my “other educators to follow” list below.
Not surprisingly, Arne Duncan has dropped in the ratings now that he has returned to private life, but the fact that he’s still on here is a testament to his continued involvement in education reform. Secretary DeVos is racking up the Twitter followers but she or her staff will need to register her on Klout for us to know how much social media influence she is wielding.
And as in years past, advocates generally do better than journalists, and anti-reform folks do better than pro-reform folks. Randi is still dominant, and Lily is making gains. Where are the reformers who might challenge them, especially now that Michelle Rhee and Campbell Brown have moved on to other pursuits?
Sidebar: Other Educators to Follow
These are folks who mostly comment on teaching, or technology, or politics, though they all have a connection to education. By all means, follow them!
| Name | Handle | Klout Score | Number of Twitter Followers |
| Deray Mckesson | @deray | 81 | 913,435 |
| Howard Rheingold | @hrheingold | 81 | 40,861 |
| Brittany Packnett | @MsPackyetti | 78 | 87,307 |
| Vicki Davis | @coolcatteacher | 75 | 147,236 |
| Larry Ferlazzo | @Larryferlazzo | 73 | 61,063 |
| Ted Fujimoto | @tedfujimoto | 72 | 95,606 |
| Zellie Imani | @zellieimani | 71 | 96,584 |
| Tom Murray | @thomascmurray | 70 | 33,650 |
| Lucy Gray | @elemenous | 69 | 39,954 |
| Matthew Lynch | @Lynch39083 | 68 | 42,901 |
| Deborah A. Gist | @deborahgist | 68 | 16,414 |
| Steve Anderson | @Web20classroom | 67 | 157,369 |
| Shelly Sanchez Terrell | @shellterrell | 67 | 79,707 |
| Will Richardson | @willrich45 | 67 | 71,084 |
| Ewan McIntosh | @ewanmcintosh | 65 | 25,746 |
| Jaime Casap | @jcasap | 66 | 25,215 |
| Scott McLeod | @mcleod | 64 | 50,825 |
| Tom Whitby | @tomwhitby | 63 | 78,748 |
| Kyle B. Pace | @kylepace | 63 | 63,186 |
| Kevin Honeycutt | @kevinhoneycutt | 63 | 58,011 |
| Wesley Fryer | @wfryer | 63 | 39,835 |
| Lisa Nielsen | @InnovativeEdu | 63 | 32,307 |
| Bill Ferriter | @plugusin | 62 | 24,043 |
| Sabrina Stevens | @realsabijoy | 62 | 10,972 |
| Jerry Blumengarten | @cybraryman1 | 61 | 77,245 |
| Steve Dembo | @teach42 | 60 | 27,358 |
| Silvia Tolisano | @langwitches | 60 | 27,191 |
| Kevin Jarrett | @kjarrett | 59 | 25,840 |
| Lyn Hilt | @lynhilt | 52 | 21,738 |
| Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach | @snbeach | 50 | 21,110 |
| Rafranz Davis | @RafranzDavis | 42 | 26,882 |
| Audrey Watters | @audreywatters | N/A | 36,323 |
| Doug Lemov | @Doug_Lemov | N/A | 23,394 |
| Dan Greenstein | @dan_greenstein | N/A | 22,056 |
| Anthony Muhammad | @newfrontier21 | N/A | 18,399 |
Now let’s turn to ed policy organizations.
Top Education Policy Organizations on Social Media by Klout Score
| 2017 Rank | Name | Handle | Klout Score | 2015 Rank | 2014 Rank | Number of Twitter Followers |
| 1 | NEA | @NEAToday | 87 | 5 | 7 | 182,630 |
| 2 | U.S. Department of Education | @usedgov | 86 | 4 | 4 | 1,260,852 |
| 2 | Edutopia | @edutopia | 86 | 959,056 | ||
| 4 | AFT | @aftunion | 85 | 10 | 10 | 41,496 |
| 5 | Teach for America | @teachforamerica | 84 | 1 | 1 | 150,230 |
| 6 | Ed Surge | @EdSurge | 83 | 101,755 | ||
| 7 | ASCD | @ASCD | 81 | 7 | 9 | 201,784 |
| 8 | Education Week | @educationweek | 80 | 2 | 2 | 688,542 |
| 8 | Education Next | @educationnext | 80 | 3 | 3 | 132,415 |
| 10 | EdChoice | @edchoice | 79 | 6,357 | ||
| 11 | U.S. News Education | @USNewsEducation | 71 | 9 | 276,658 | |
| 11 | Harvard Graduate School of Education | @HGSE | 71 | 6 | 6 | 120,907 |
| 11 | The 74 | @The74 | 71 | 39,883 | ||
| 14 | Education Post | @edu_post | 70 | 10 | 48,222 | |
| 15 | The Hechinger Report | @hechingerreport | 69 | 13 | 19 | 34,175 |
| 16 | Getting Smart | @Getting_Smart | 68 | 55,566 | ||
| 17 | NPR’s Education Team | @npr_ed | 68 | 18 | 45,145 | |
| 17 | Education Nation | @educationnation | 67 | 13 | 12 | 252,765 |
| 19 | Office of Ed Tech | @OfficeofEdTech | 67 | 131,969 | ||
| 19 | The Education Trust | @EdTrust | 67 | 21 | 16 | 79,491 |
| 19 | National Alliance for Public Charter Schools | @charteralliance | 67 | 16 | 21,300 | |
| 22 | eSchool News | @eschoolnews | 66 | 76,495 | ||
| 23 | Badass Teachers Association | @BadassTeachersA | 65 | 10 | 8 | 35,086 |
| 24 | Thomas B. Fordham Institute | @educationgadfly | 64 | 21 | 13 | 47,934 |
| 25 | NCTM | @NCTM | 63 | 55,585 | ||
| 25 | AIR Education | @Education_AIR | 63 | 19 | 29,082 | |
| 25 | Digital Promise | @DigitalPromise | 63 | 17,261 |
Top Education Policy Organizations on Social Media by Twitter Followers
| 2017 Rank | Name | Handle | Number of Twitter Followers | Klout Score | 2015 Rank | 2014 Rank |
| 1 | U.S. Department of Education | @usedgov | 1,260,852 | 86 | 4 | 4 |
| 2 | Edutopia | @edutopia | 959,056 | 86 | ||
| 3 | Education Week | @educationweek | 688,542 | 80 | 2 | 2 |
| 4 | Huffington Post Education | @HuffPostEdu | 398,552 | 62 | 8 | 5 |
| 5 | U.S. News Education | @USNewsEducation | 276,658 | 71 | 9 | |
| 6 | Education Nation | @educationnation | 252,765 | 67 | 13 | 12 |
| 7 | ASCD | @ASCD | 201,784 | 81 | 7 | 9 |
| 8 | NEA | @NEAToday | 182,630 | 87 | 5 | 7 |
| 9 | Gates Education | @gatesed | 159,923 | 62 | 16 | 15 |
| 10 | Teach for America | @teachforamerica | 150,230 | 84 | 1 | 1 |
| 11 | Education Next | @educationnext | 132,415 | 80 | 3 | 3 |
| 12 | Office of Ed Tech | @OfficeofEdTech | 131,969 | 67 | ||
| 13 | Harvard Graduate School of Education | @HGSE | 120,907 | 71 | 6 | 6 |
| 14 | Ed Surge | @EdSurge | 101,755 | 83 | ||
| 15 | The Education Trust | @EdTrust | 79,491 | 67 | 21 | 16 |
| 16 | eSchool News | @eschoolnews | 76,495 | 66 | ||
| 17 | NCTM | @NCTM | 55,585 | 63 | ||
| 18 | Getting Smart | @Getting_Smart | 55,566 | 68 | ||
| 19 | Education Post | @edu_post | 48,222 | 70 | 10 | |
| 20 | Thomas B. Fordham Institute | @educationgadfly | 47,934 | 64 | 21 | 13 |
| 21 | Washington Post Education | @PostSchools | 45,404 | N/A | ||
| 22 | NPR’s Education Team | @npr_ed | 45,145 | 68 | 18 | |
| 23 | AFT | @aftunion | 41,496 | 85 | 10 | 10 |
| 24 | The 74 | @The74 | 39,883 | 71 | ||
| LA Times Education | @LATeducation | 39,802 | 56 |
Stability reigns on these lists as well. Journalistic outlets do better here, including newbie The 74. Ed Choice must be doing something right on Facebook and/or Instagram, because its Klout to Twitter followers ratio is off the charts. Sadly, Teach For America appears to be losing ground—just as it is in the real world. Finally, let me give some (self-interested) props to both the Education Trust (reformers on the left) and my very own Fordham Institute (reformers on the right). We’re holding our own despite being over the hill in social media years. (We both recently celebrated 20 year anniversaries.)
***
What else do you notice that’s interesting? Whom did I overlook? Let the opining begin!
— Mike Petrilli
Mike Petrilli is president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, and executive editor of Education Next.
