User Profile

Chief Executive Officer / Founder, Digital Pioneers Academy

Mashea Ashton is CEO of the Newark Charter School Fund (NCSF), a private foundation established in April of 2008 that makes grants to support the quality and sustainability of Newark's charter schools. NCSF is dedicated to improving Newark's charter schools and generally to creating a thriving public school sector in Newark that prepares all Newark public school students for college and work. Mashea previously served as the executive director for the New York program and senior advisor for charter school policy for New Leaders for New Schools. At New Leaders, Mashea worked with over 100 New Leaders impacting approximately 40,000 students and families in New York City and Newark. Mashea also served as the executive director for charter schools for the New York City Department of Education. As head of the charter schools office, Mashea set the vision and policy direction of nearly 50 charter schools throughout the Big Apple and supported the city's unprecedented $130 million effort to open 200 new small schools, including 50 new charter schools. Mashea formerly served as the national director of recruitment and selection and Midwest director of business development for the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP). She worked to establish and maintain relationships with key decision makers in Chicago, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Detroit to support the development of KIPP schools. Mashea served several years as a special education teacher in Williamsburg, Virginia and Washington, D.C. She serves on the boards of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, the National Alliance for Public Charters Schools and the William and Mary Alumni Association. Mashea has a MEd in special education with emphasis on learning disabilities and emotional disturbance and a BA in sociology and elementary education from the College of William and Mary. She is a Fellow of the Aspen Institute Pahara Education Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.