Contributor
Marguerite Kondracke, President and CEO, America's Promise Alliance
Related Link:
http://www.americaspromise.org
Biography provided by participant
Since 2004, Marguerite W. Kondracke has been President and CEO of America's Promise Alliance,
founded in 1997 by General Colin Powell. With more than 300 national partners, America's
Promise is currently focused on addressing the nation's high school dropout crisis.
During her 40-year career, Marguerite has been both an entrepreneur and a public servant. She
brings to America's Promise Alliance extensive multi-sector experience as an advocate for
children and families. Before joining the Alliance, Marguerite served as Special Assistant to
U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and Staff Director for the Senate Subcommittee on Children
and Families. Previously, she also co-founded and was CEO of the nation's largest employersponsored
child care company, Bright Horizons Family Solutions, one of Fortune's "100 Best
Companies to Work For." Recently, Marguerite was named one of the "Top 50 People of Power
and Influence in 2008" by The Non-Profit Times. She is a board member of the Independent
Sector and also a trustee of Duke University. Marguerite is married to award-winning
journalist Morton Kondracke, and they have four children and two grandchildren.
Recent Responses
September 21, 2009 02:27 PM
America’s Promise Alliance has spent the past year and a half traveling the country to raise awareness of the dropout crisis and bring people from all sectors together to begin to think about how we can tackle it. While there are many theories and good programs out there, we’ve learned the only true long-term solutions are comprehensive and community-based and involve a multi-tiered approach focusing on the three essentials of: prevention, intervention and recuperation. We must do all we can to prevent students from dropping out in the first place. This starts with ensuring all children are enrolled in pre-school…
Read moreSeptember 3, 2009 03:51 PM
As George Wood points out there is no “silver bullet” to turn around our lowest performing schools, but there is a lot of evidence out there—many of it mentioned on this blog—about approaches that are working. That said, I think we can all agree that a child’s academic performance has as much to do with what’s happening outside the classroom as inside. Students in these 5,000 schools and in our urban neighborhoods have challenges that affect their education including poverty, crime-filled neighborhoods and schools with limited resources and teachers with the least experience. If we are truly going to turn these…
Read moreAugust 27, 2009 09:30 AM
Service to others and the simple but powerful principle that education was an essential right were cornerstones of Senator Kennedy’s life, and his work on behalf of those ideals has made an immeasurable difference in the lives of millions of children, youth and families. We at America’s Promise Alliance mourn the passing of Senator Kennedy but we celebrate his legacy and say “thank you” for the tremendous work he did to make America’s educational system and the children it serves a top national priority. The Alliance has been fortunate to have had the support of Senator Kennedy since our inception in…
Read moreJuly 2, 2009 12:29 PM
I believe America’s low graduation rate is our most pressing issue as a nation and is the culmination of years of failure. When 1.3 million students drop out every year and the high school graduation rate for African American males is only 44%, our directive about where we need to focus our energies and resources becomes obvious. While the ARRA funds are a historic infusion of investment in our education system, the government must be clear that this is not a license for business as usual; it’s a one-time opportunity to stop activities that are ineffective and ramp up those…
Read more
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