Jamie Olson McKee

Deputy Director, K-12 Education at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Jamie Olson McKee, deputy director on the K-12 Education team, supports the foundation’s place-based delivery strategy. This initiative seeks to test, codify, and scale school improvement models that significantly increase the number of black, Latino, and low-income students who earn a high school diploma, enroll in a post-secondary institution, and are on track in their first year to obtain a credential with labor market value. Prior to taking on this role, Jamie’s work at the foundation focused on tools and teaching strategies that support teachers in implementing the Common Core. Jamie also served as a senior program officer on the US Program Advocacy team. In that role, she worked with state policy makers, as well as a variety of advocacy organizations, to effectively inform and promote adoption of college-ready policies within states.

Before joining the foundation, Jamie served as the policy director at the Pennsylvania Department of Education, working to ensure that all Pennsylvania’s students have equitable access to high quality public education, pre-K through college, and that each graduates from high school ready for college and work. Jamie started her career as a grassroots organizer working with high school students to advocate for an equitable system of school funding in Pennsylvania, as well as a comprehensive set of education reforms designed to increase the quality of education across the Commonwealth.

Jamie received a master’s degree in public affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree in education policy from Brown University.

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  • Deputy Director, K-12 Education

    Current role

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