Devan O’Toole is a senior policy assistant in the education research area at Child Trends. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in public policy from the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Devan served as a town meeting representative in his hometown in Massachusetts for three years, where he represented student voices in decisions impacting the local school system. He has experience analyzing local education budgets and assessing the real-world impact of school funding on student academic achievement and overall community welfare in areas such as affordable housing, food security, and health services. Because of this experience, Devan is interested in researching state and local policy measures that impact education equity and strengthening coalitions with education advocates on the grassroots level.