John M. (Jack) Fredericks is a doctoral candidate in Educational Policy and Evaluation at Arizona State University’s Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation. His research looks at how schools and school systems are held accountable and who gets left out when that accountability doesn’t work as intended. He is proud and excited to partner with EdFund through the research grant, “Measuring Access: A New Way of Defining School Funding,” which will work to develop an alternative low- income student identification index designed for the Mississippi and Tennessee funding formulas. Before starting his PhD, Jack spent five years teaching English in rural Mississippi, where he was named District Teacher of the Year during the 2022-2023 academic year. That experience shapes how he approaches research today. He believes good policy work has to stay grounded in the everyday realities of teachers, students, and communities. Outside his academic work, Jack serves as Vice President of Professional Development for ASU’s Graduate and Professional Student Government, and he co-founded Precision Policy Partners, a consulting firm focused on education policy.