Francie Alexander is the Chief Academic Officer, Scholastic Inc., and Senior VP, Scholastic Education. She is the spokesperson and advisor for Scholastic Home Phonics Reading Program and may be contacted at Scholastic.com as an onsite expert on reading issues for preschool through Grade three. She is also the author of many books for beginners including The Internet: A Kid’s Handbook, several of the Clifford® Phonics Fun readers, and books for the Sound-Out-the-Word series. She started at Scholastic as the publisher of multimedia reading instructional materials and programs that are research-based, get results, and positively engage children and young adults in learning. At Scholastic, she’s been involved in the publication of Scholastic Literacy Place®, Phonics Readers, READ 180®, Text Talk (the 2006 AEP Golden Lamp winner for publishing distinction), and Scholastic RED® professional development.

Francie is a recognized leader in educational thought, and she serves on the National Assessment Governing Board, which sets policy for “the nation’s report card.” She serves on two boards for the Public Broadcasting System and the Youth Action Committee for the Institute on Library and Museum Sciences. She was also recently interviewed on NBC’s The Today Show and CNN’s American Morning on how to prevent the “summer slide.”

Francie is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Education, where she published new “ungovernment-like” publications including the very successful and still popular Helping Your Child Learn books. She was the Executive Director of the National Council on Education Standards and Testing. The Council published the report “Raising Standards for American Education,” a catalyst for the current standards movement.

As Associate Superintendent of Public Instruction in California, Francie played a key role in curriculum improvement and assessment development. She also managed very successful public awareness campaigns including Healthy Kids Healthy California, History: A Story Well Told, and Arts Count.

Francie has extensive teaching experience from kindergarten through college. In California, she has also been a language arts consultant for a large urban school district and a resource teacher in a suburban district. She completed a four-year term on the California Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission, one year as the first teacher-elected chairperson.

To view Francie Alexander’s bio as a pdf, click here.