COA Education Solutions is founded and led by Dr. Chimaobi Obilo Amutah, a dedicated educator, data analyst, and researcher with over 15 years of experience in a variety of education policy, practice, and research settings. In policy, he has worked for the New Jersey Department of Education for over eight years in numerous roles related to data analysis in support of district and school improvement. In practice, Dr. Amutah has delivered hundreds of lessons in math, world history, U.S. history, and other courses to students in grades 6-10 as a classroom teacher as well as graduate students as an adjunct professor. In research, he has designed, conducted, and published original research focused on issues related to educational equity, especially with regards to parental advocacy and class.
Additionally, as a high school student himself, Dr. Amutah originally intended on applying to nearly 30 colleges and universities in an attempt to garner a diverse array of post-secondary options. From Ivy League universities to state schools, historically Black colleges and universities to technical colleges, he cast a broad net and anticipated not being admitted to several of his top choices. In the end, Dr. Amutah applied to 21 colleges and universities and gained admission to 18. Among the colleges and universities he gained admission to were Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, Georgetown, Emory, Amherst, Howard, and Morehouse with several offering full academic and/or need-based scholarships. In addition to his professional work Dr. Amutah has spent several years interviewing applicants as an alumni interviewer, thus bringing significant knowledge of elite college admissions to this work. He also formerly worked for Kaplan Test Prep as a SAT tutor/ instructor.
Dr. Amutah hold a bachelor’s degree in African and African American Studies with honors from Harvard University where he won numerous awards for public service and leadership. Following his time at Harvard he taught middle school and high school social studies in Mississippi as part of the highly selective Mississippi Teacher Corps program which couples full-time teaching in a high-needs school with a fully funded master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Mississippi. He also taught mathematics for charter schools within the KIPP network in both Arkansas and Pennsylvania, declining an offer to become an Assistant Principal at 25 to return to New Jersey and begin doctoral coursework in education at Rutgers University. He received his doctor of education degree in education, culture, and society from Rutgers University in 2017 where he was a two-time Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar. At present, Dr. Amutah continues to work in education policy in New Jersey supporting school and district improvement efforts statewide.
