Sean Simone joined the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) in 2025 as the Vice President of Research and the Director of the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Education. Sean brings nearly two decades of expertise in state and federal education data and policy.
Prior to joining COE, Sean worked at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education. Over a ten-year period, he served as Associate Commissioner, Branch Chief, and Survey Director, overseeing education longitudinal surveys, financial aid studies, and institutional education data collections. He is an expert in financial aid research, having served as the Project Officer for the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study; is knowledgeable on student transfer with authorship of the last major study on credit transfer commissioned by NCES; and is experienced in the use of institutional and state-wide data systems for research.
In addition, Sean has expertise in workforce development research and served as the Director of Research and Evaluation at the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. In this capacity, he was the project director for New Jersey’s Statewide Longitudinal Data System, connecting education data to other state data sources. Sean continues to teach graduate-level courses at Rutgers, including Higher Education Policy and Survey Research.
Sean holds a Ph.D. in Education Policy from the University of Maryland at College Park.