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Teach Plus selects Alice Johnson Cain as National Director of Policy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, November 2, 2011                          

Contact:
Anna McCallie
amccallie@teachplus.org
617-428-0700 ext. 111

Teach Plus selects Alice Johnson Cain
as National Director of Policy

Leader in the growing movement to bring teachers into policy decisions
will guide work to retain effective teachers in urban schools

BOSTON – Teach Plus, a national non-profit organization focused on urban teacher leadership and voice, has selected Alice Johnson Cain as its first National Director of Policy.  Ms. Cain brings more than 20 years of state, national, and international public policy experience.

As National Director of Policy, Ms. Cain will serve as a member of the Teach Plus senior leadership team and will play an active role in shaping organizational direction and strategy. She will help ensure that the work of Teach Plus is focused on policy change that leads to better retention of effective teachers and improved student outcomes in urban classrooms. Ms. Cain also will collaborate with Executive Directors of Teach Plus sites in six cities to advance the policy agenda in each city.

Ms. Cain was formerly Education Director for the Hope Street Group. She previously spent six years as chief advisor to Congressman George Miller (D-CA) for K-12 education, working on significant measures including Race to the Top, the Investing in Innovation Fund, the Teacher Excellence for All Children Act, the RENEWAAL Act (to assist Gulf Coast schools after Hurricane Katrina) and revisions to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.  Ms. Cain also advised Senator Paul Simon on education policy for five years and served as an education advisor to then-Senator Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.  

Celine Coggins, Teach Plus Founder and CEO, said, “Alice’s long track record as a leader in education policy, an innovator who has found new ways to include teacher voice in policy debates, and collaborator across traditional political lines makes her an ideal fit for the role. We are excited to welcome her to the team.”

Ms. Cain developed policy recommendations that were adopted by the New Zealand government through a fellowship awarded by Fulbright New Zealand.  At the Children’s Defense Fund, Ms. Cain helped build the national grassroots advocacy program that led to state and federal policy changes benefitting low-income children and families.  At the National Institute for Literacy, she helped build a new national network of literacy providers that successfully advocated for state and federal policy changes on behalf of their students.  Other experience includes several years teaching GED and ESOL classes to low-income and homeless adults and refugees.  Ms. Cain currently co-chairs Hope Street Group’s Education Policy Council and serves on the Board of the Success for All Foundation.

“Teach Plus brings excellent teachers exactly where they belong: to the center of education reform,” said Ms. Cain. “I am thrilled to work with outstanding teachers who are focused on the students and schools that need them most and who are bringing their talent to local, state and federal policy debates, where their expertise is needed more than ever.”

Teach Plus is a national non-profit based in Boston whose mission is to improve outcomes for urban children by ensuring that a greater proportion of students have access to effective, experienced teachers. Teach Plus runs three programs designed to place teacher leaders at the center of reform: Teaching Policy Fellows, the T+ Network, and T3: Turnaround Teacher Teams. The programs focus on demonstrably effective teachers who want to continue classroom teaching while also expanding their impact as leaders in their schools and in national, state, and district policy. Teach Plus began with 16 founding teachers from urban district and charter schools in Greater Boston. Since its inception as a non-profit in August 2009, Teach Plus has grown to a network of more than 3,500 reform-minded teachers in six major cities across the country. 
www.teachplus.org

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