News Brief

02/11/13

Former CCSSO Executive Director Gene Wilhoit Announces New Endeavors

By Abby Hexter

Gene Wilhoit has been named the director of the National Center for Innovation in Education, a new organization being established at the University of Kentucky, College of Education with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The National Center for Innovation in Education will contribute to the national education reform agenda with a focus on ensuring more states are adopting and implementing a standard definition of college and career readiness that embodies "deeper learning" outcomes, implementing meaningful measures of those outcomes, and holding all levels of the system accountable for results.

In addition to this opportunity, Student Achievement Partners has announced that Wilhoit will join their organization as a partner. In this role, Wilhoit will work with state chiefs, urban superintendents, teachers' unions, foundations, and business leaders to put the Common Core State Standards into practice.

During his tenure at CCSSO, Wilhoit led the creation, adoption, and implementation of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. He also played a leading role in the Council's Innovation Lab Network, a program focused on innovation in public education.