Eric Hirsch, EdReports’ Founding CEO, to Step Down The 74

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Eric Hirsch, who helped change the way school districts and parents think about curriculum, will step down as CEO of EdReports next year.

Beginning his career in education as a state policy analyst, Hirsch has led the nonprofit — which takes an independent, Consumer Reports approach to reviewing instructional materials — since its founding in 2014. He previously spent years surveying teachers on working conditions to learn more about what made them want to stay in their careers, and in a similar way, aimed to elevate the role of teachers in what is often an “opaque” industry, he said.

The organization’s initial reports were not well received and drew “nasty letters,” from publishers, Hirsch said. More than 1,100 reviews later, many states and districts consider EdReports the leading authority when deciding on new materials.

“One of the things about … leading something as big, impactful and important as EdReports is this is an idea that’s bigger than me. It’s about the impact we’ve had,” he said. “I hope the job is as exciting to someone else as it has been to me. It’s just time for me not to be the one doing that job.”

Hirsch, who said he’s not sure what he wants to do next, will leave at the end of the school year while the board conducts a search for a new chief.

Hirsch’s departure comes at a time of change for the organization. Last year, it revised its scoring process in response to feedback from experts and educators. In June, the organization expanded to review pre-K materials, influenced by a 2024 National Academies report showing that curricula for 3- and 4-year-olds often “fall short” and don’t provide enough support for multilingual learners.

States have also taken a larger role in determining which materials districts select, with several advising them to use EdReports reviews as guides. But with the growing attention to the role of high-quality materials in student learning, the organization has faced increased criticism.

Some argued the review process was slow to emphasize the science of reading. Reviewers gave its highest green rating to programs that still encouraged students to guess words based on pictures or the rest of a sentence while also giving lower, yellow ratings to programs found to boost student achievement.

“I think we’ve caught up in terms of the criteria,” said Courtney Allison, EdReports’ chief academic officer. “Now we’re working on … just making sure that we can provide as much information as possible about as many programs as possible.”

Other critics say EdReports’ review system overemphasizes whether materials address the Common Core standards. Hirsch acknowledged many of the concerns, and the updated process released in November placed a greater focus on phonics, fluency and phonemic awareness while “still considering standards where they’re useful,” said spokeswoman Janna Chan.

Additional organizations, like The Reading League and the Curriculum Insight Projecthave also launched as alternatives. Hirsch said he’s never viewed them as competitors, and Allison said additional “partners” can provide helpful signals to district leaders. The risk, she said, is that there’s so much “noise” that leaders picking curriculum “throw up their hands and say, ‘Never mind, it’s too much.’ ”

Devon Gadow, a partner with TNTP, a nonprofit consulting organization, said she appreciated Hirsch’s confidence in EdReports’ mission.

“They could have gone in 15 different directions, and certainly there are other organizations that have popped up over the years that are now reviewing materials,” she said. But Hirsch’s “singular focus” on the connection between curriculum and standards “allowed states and educators to demand better quality materials.”

In looking for a new leader, EdReports needs someone who understands the intersection of artificial intelligence and curriculum, both as a real-time assistant for studentsbut also as a guide for teachers on how to present a lesson to students who might be working below grade level, Gadow said. With more schools incorporating tutoring and intervention groups into the school day, she said teachers also need more support in connecting their primary curriculum to additional materials.

With all the emphasis on high-quality materials, Hirsch noted growing research showing that simply adopting a strong curriculum isn’t enough. A six-year study from the Rand Corp. showed there’s often a mismatch between curriculum, teacher training and assessment. Teachers are using more curriculum materials than ever, but often “water it down” to their students’ level, wrote David Steinerexecutive director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy.

An EdReports survey released last month showed that most districts don’t pilot materials before adopting them districtwide and don’t have their own process for measuring whether the materials they choose are effective.

“Why hasn’t the needle moved on student achievement more?” Hirsch asked. “We’re starting to think the next decade has some really important questions that build off all we’ve done.”

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