Achieve's State Support Team Grows

Thursday, April 17, 2014Printer-friendly version

Washington, D.C. -  April 17, 2014 - Michael Cohen, president of Achieve, today announced three new hires to Achieve's team that will increase the education non-profit's ability to support states in the implementation of major college- and career-ready reforms and help make college and career readiness the expectation for all students.

Ted Coe has joined Achieve as our Director of Mathematics. Ted is responsible for coordinating and supporting Achieve's work to develop and lead an organizational vision, agenda, and lines of work around mathematics. He will provide the mathematics content expertise across all Achieve's initiatives and provide support to states on mathematics standards implementation and assessment support, which includes developing tools and products for use by states and districts.

Ted has been an educator for over 20 years. He began his career as a high school mathematics teacher and eventually transitioned to teaching at the college level. During his tenure as a community college professor he served as mathematics chair for two colleges in the Maricopa Community College District. He comes to Achieve directly from Grand Canyon University where he was an Assistant Dean for the College of Education. An Arizona native, Ted earned his B.A., M.Ed., and Ph.D. degrees from Arizona State University.

Sasheen Phillips brings more than 17 years of educational experience to Achieve as the Director of Educators Evaluating Quality Instructional Products (EQuIP) and Open Educational Resources (OER). As the Director of EQuIP and OER, Sasheen is responsible for overseeing Achieve's strategy for working with states to both build the capacity to create as well as identify quality instructional materials that support college- and career- ready standards in English language arts/literacy and mathematics. She is leading the planning and dissemination of support to states within EQuIP and OER.

Before joining the organization in April 2014, she led educational reforms for 12 years at the Ohio Department of Education. During that time, Sasheen directed the state's K-12 literacy initiatives, served as the State lead for Ohio in the development of the Common Core State Standards in English language arts/literacy; and led the implementation of Ohio's New Learning standards. Sasheen's educational experience also extends to the local level where she taught English at the secondary level for five years. A Cleveland native, Sasheen earned a bachelor's degree in education from Kent State University, a master's degree in educational administration from Ashland University, and an administrator's license.

Jacob Mishook joined Achieve in March 2014 as Associate Director, Assessment and Accountability. Jacob is responsible for managing an integrated, coherent approach to guiding states in the transition to high-quality, aligned college- and career-ready (CCR) assessments, and providing guidance to states as they work to value, measure, and incentivize college and career readiness in their accountability and public reporting systems.

Prior to joining Achieve, Jacob spent seven years at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University as a senior research associate, where his work focused on district central office reform, college and career readiness indicators, and arts education. Prior to that, he worked as an educational researcher in the Center for Technology in Learning at SRI International, in the area of science performance assessments and the validity of national and international assessments. He also currently serves as co-chair of the Districts in Research and Reform Special Interest Group (SIG) and as program chair of the Arts and Learning SIG for the American Educational Research Association. Jacob holds a bachelor's degree in English and sociology with honors in education from Stanford University and a doctorate in educational theory and policy from Penn State University.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Chad Colby (202) 419-1570, ccolby@achieve.org