Molly Osborne is the director of policy for EducationNC and the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research.
Molly grew up in Essex, Massachusetts and attended the local public elementary, middle, and high school. She graduated from the University of Virginia in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and global development.
After graduating from college, Molly joined Teach for America and taught 5th and 6th grade English Language Arts in Algiers, a neighborhood in New Orleans. In her third year of teaching, she designed and implemented a blended learning pilot program at her school.
Molly received a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 2017. During the summer between her two years of graduate school, she interned for EducationNC and researched home schooling in North Carolina.
Featured Articles

Exploring chronic absence from the ground up in Edgecombe County
by Molly Osborne |

What percentage of North Carolina’s Education Lottery money goes to education?
by Molly Osborne |
More articles

‘Finish the FAFSA’ makes it easier for high schools to track FAFSA completions
by Molly Osborne |

Louisiana increased FAFSA completion by 25% in 1 year. Here’s what they learned.
by Molly Osborne |

Tennessee currently leads the nation in FAFSA completion. Here’s how they did it.
by Molly Osborne |

How North Carolina’s community colleges are responding to COVID-19: A new database from EdNC
by Emily Thomas and Molly Osborne |

With social distancing and protective gear in place, some community college students return to campus
by Molly Osborne and Robert Kinlaw |

Fund balances: Do school districts have enough in savings to weather COVID-19’s perfect storm?
by Alex Granados and Molly Osborne |

How are community colleges distributing CARES Act funding to students?
by Molly Osborne and Nation Hahn |

North Carolina’s surge in community college presidential turnover ‘a model for the country’
by Molly Osborne |