Kira Orange Jones

Chief Executive Officer @Teach Plus

New Orleans, LA, US

Kira is the Chief Executive Officer of Teach Plus. She leads the organization to develop and advance teachers as leaders in education policy and practice, with a focus on student opportunty. Prior to joining Teach Plus, she served as a senior vice president at Teach for America and founded the Systems Impact Lab, where she led a team that set the strategy for ensuring nearly 30 years of insights on education systems change successfully scaled across Teach For America’s regions. Prior to this, Kira led the Greater New Orleans region for Teach For America for over a decade, through one of the organization\'s most ambitious growth and impact efforts. Kira just finished her third term as an elected member of Louisiana’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE). In her 2019 election, she won with an overwhelming margin, carrying every R and D precinct across her six parish District.Kira represented more than residents across Greater New Orleans on Louisiana\'s top education policymaking board. Kira\'s leadership on BESE has been crucial to increasing teacher pay, raising standards, increasing the number of top-rated schools across the State, expanding access to quality early childcare to families, increasing the number of students graduating on time, and growing the number of students prepared for college and high-wage careers. Kira is one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world and named by Louisiana Life Magazine as a Louisianan of the Year. Outside of her official roles, Kira is a moderator for the Pahara and Aspen Global Networks. She serves on the national boards of Stand For Children, Instruction Partners, is a founding Leadership Committee member of Education Leaders of Color (EdLoC). Kira holds a B.A. in Film Studies from Wesleyan University and a M.Ed. from Harvard University. Kira is the 2020 recipient of the prestigious Distinguished Alumna Award from Wesleyan University, in recognition of her achievement and service.

Wesleyan University

Bachelor of Arts - BA

Harvard University

M. Ed.