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Hosanna Mahaley Johnson serves as acting state superintendent for the District of Columbia. In this role, she is implementing the rollout of common core standards for DC's schools, managing the District's Race to the Top initiatives, and overseeing federal education grants for the District. Previously, she was president of the Atlanta Education Fund, a new fund chartered by the mayor and top Atlanta business leaders to focus on galvanizing community and business support for the school system's reform initiatives. Prior to that, she served as senior partner and adviser to school systems working with Wireless Generation. Hosanna spent eight years in Chicago, initially as special assistant to the mayor and subsequently at Chicago Public Schools (CPS) where she held numerous leadership positions, including chief of staff to then-CEO Arne Duncan. She also managed Renaissance 2010, Chicago's reform initiative to close underperforming schools and to open 15-20 new schools per year. Under her leadership, over 50 schools were opened, outperforming district schools on several key measures. Prior to her work in Chicago, Hosanna was a middle school math teacher in Oceanside, Calif., where she developed new curricula that resulted in her students frequently winning state and local math competitions. She has received numerous awards, including "Teacher of the Year" and "Outstanding Alumnae of the Decade," and in 2006 was named one of Crain's Chicago Business Magazine's "40 under 40." Hosanna has participated in the Broad Foundation Superintendents Academy and has been involved in Harvard Business School's Public Education Leadership Program (PELP) since its inception. She holds key roles on several boards of directors including serving as vice president of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) and a member of the executive committee on Education Sector's board of directors. Hosanna, a public school graduate, holds a bachelor's degree in history from Marquette University, a master's in education from University of Illinois-Chicago, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. She received her teaching certification from California State in middle school mathematics and English as a second language. She has been profiled in numerous magazines and publications. She is a Fellow of the inaugural class of the Aspen Institute-NewSchools Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
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