Jessica Fredston-Hermann

I truly believe in the promise of schools as spaces to nurture curiosity, learning, empathy, and growth. I do this work because no matter what, every student should have access to excellent educators who bring this promise to life, enabling children to learn and thrive.

Jessica Fredston-Hermann leads educator-facing investments within the Foundation’s School Success portfolio, which aims to increase the number of kindergarten through eighth grade students demonstrating meaningful growth and proficiency in literacy and math.

Jessica brings nearly 20 years of experience in education policy, partnership development, and program leadership. She served for more than a decade in New York City’s Department of Education, including most recently directing one of the city’s largest professional development programs for educators that supports them in earning salary differentials. In earlier roles, she helped implement a new teacher development and evaluation system as part of the Office of Teacher Effectiveness, developed accountability systems for the Charter Schools Office, created curricula for ReadWorks, wrote charter school applications for Ceiba Public Schools, and taught middle school.

Jessica earned a Master’s in Education Policy and Leadership from Stanford University and a B.A. in Education History/Policy from Brown University. She lives in Brooklyn and spends as much of her spare time as possible enjoying the outdoors, in addition to cooking, planning adventures with friends, trying new gym classes, and seeing live music and theater.