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Gerard Robinson
For 20 years Gerard Robinson has focused on public policy, research and advocacy to create quality learning opportunities for all students, with a particular focus on students placed at risk. Robinson most recently served as the Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia. As Secretary he advised Governor Bob McDonnell in the development and implementation of K-12 and higher education policy, and provided guidance to 16 public universities, the community college system, five higher education and research centers, the department of education, and state-supported museums. Robinson's legislative efforts during the 2010 and 2011 Virginia General Assembly sessions resulted in new education laws to support the creation of public charter schools, establish college laboratory schools in partnership with a public college of education, and expand public school virtual learning programs.
At the college and university level, Robinson's leadership and team helped to secure passage of Virginia's historic Top Jobs for the 21st Century: The Virginia Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2011. The law puts the Commonwealth on a path to award 100,000 additional university and community college degrees over the next 15 years. The Virginia General Assembly also invested $100 million in new funds into higher education to support the legislation's three core elements: economic opportunity, reformed-based investment, and affordable access. In addition to Robinson's legislative activity, he served as chair of both the Virginia Early Childhood Advisory Council and the Governor's Forum on Aligning Education, Economic Development and Business.
Robinson also worked from 2005-2010 as a program director and later president of the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO): a national nonprofit organization with a mission to increase access to high-quality educational options for Black children by actively supporting parental choice policies and programs that empower low-income and working-class Black families. As president Robinson managed a $4 million budget and staff in Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Prior to his position at BAEO, Robinson served as a senior research associate for the School Choice Demonstration Project at the University of Arkansas from 2006 to 2007, and as a senior fellow at the Institute for the Transformation of Learning at Marquette University from 2004 to 2006.
For the past several years, Robinson has given presentations about education and public policy at university conferences held at Notre Dame, Stanford, Virginia, and Yale, as well as forums sponsored by think tanks such as the Brookings Institution and the Heritage Foundation. Robinson also discussed the merits of the American public school choice movement at the Summer Institute for Educators held at Oxford University in England, and examined policy issues with university personnel at the Higher Education Institute held at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Other international travel includes the Dominican Republic, Egypt, Gambia, Germany, Haiti, Israel, and Senegal.
Robinson is an advisory committee member for the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University, and a member of the G.O.A.L. Scholarship Program in Georgia, Chiefs for Change, and the Digital Learning Council.
Robinson earned a Master of Education degree from Harvard University, a Bachelor of Arts from Howard University, and an Associate of Arts from El Camino Community College. He is married and has three daughters.