Grand Island / Lexington

GIPS hires Chief Data Analyst and Organizational Strategist

Mundo Latino Network

Grand Island Public Schools has hired Jonathan Doll, PhD, to join the executive cabinet as Chief Data Analyst and Organizational Strategist.

“Dr. Doll comes to GIPS with immense educational leadership experience from around the world,” said Dr. Tawana Grover, GIPS Superintendent. “He has spent time analyzing and addressing solutions for many major challenges facing public education, including attendance, performance and safety. Dr. Doll will be an asset to all areas of our district as we continue to execute the strategic plan and design our decisions using data.”

Dr. Doll has worked in both K-12 and higher education in a variety of roles. He served in the Michigan Department of Education in the school reform office as the data strategist and education consultant from 2012 to 2017 and most recently worked for the Oregon Department of Education as Chronic Absenteeism Specialist in 2019.

He has worked as education director for the Boston Initiative in Dubai; a senior specialist of professional development for the Abu Dhabi Education Council; the academic coordinator for Khalifa University of Science, Research and Technology; an education coordinator for Prince Mohammad University; and a lecturer for Texas A&M University.

“For me, district-level leadership completes my educational journey,” Dr. Doll said. “I’m passionate about educational leaders being successful and educators being successful.”

This position replaces the Chief Transformation Officer post left vacant when Dr. Joshua McDowell became the superintendent of Crete Public Schools. The position takes some of the responsibility of the open director of assessment and accountability position as well.

“As a result of strategic reorganization, this position was created,” Dr. Grover said. “We must always be flexible to look at our needs as a district and take advantage of opportunities when they are available to do what we need at that time to not only do what is best for our students, but to also position the district for success in the future.”

In recent years, GIPS has put an increased focus on better understanding data to make informed decisions. Design is actually one of four pillars of the district’s strategic plan. Dr. Doll said he is excited to be a part of a team willing to utilize data to drive improvement.

“We need to understand if what we’re doing is successful or not,” he said. “We want to have accurate statistics, knowledge and data about our learning so we can confront our overwhelming belief about how well things are working to know what is actually working. That is where data analysis can help, which ultimately helps our students succeed.”