Dr. Cassandra P. Herring, Policy Director

Georgia Department of Education

After leaving the corporate sector, Dr. Cassandra Herring has held a distinguished fourteen year career providing leadership in educational policy at all levels. Dr. Herring was appointed Board Chair for a Head Start program in Middle Georgia that serves an economically depressed six county area. She has served as chief policy advisor for two college presidents and as Associate Vice President for Institutional Research, Planning, and Technological Services - providing data and promoting data based decision making at the executive level.

Since being appointed as the Director of Policy for the Georgia Department of Education (GADOE), Dr. Herring has clarified and improved division operations, led the development and implementation of diverse and significant policy changes, guided timely and valuable research efforts, and launched program evaluation and project management initiatives throughout the department.

An astute administrator, Dr. Herring strives to fulfill GADOE's mission of being a policy driven, service-oriented agency that serves local school systems as they prepare all students for college or career in a safe and drug-free environment. Dr. Herring's strategic vision for the Policy Division is to maintain a reputation for expertise and transparency in the development, implementation, and evaluation of policy. Her goal is that GADOE decisions, as well as those of local and state decision-makers and the public, will be guided by the division's high quality research and thoughtful analysis.

Dr. Herring has streamlined the policy making process of GADOE by moving to a fully electronic tracking system, providing brown bag training sessions for new and continuing department staff, and engaging a broad group of education stakeholders as critical partners in the policymaking process. She has led the rule development and implementation processes for many major shifts in state policy, including changes in the areas of: hearing processes for students with disabilities, the enrollment and withdrawal of students, early intervention for students struggling to succeed, common high school graduation requirements for all students, waivers of State Board of Education rules and state law, charter schools, and class size.

Dr. Herring earned both the Bachelor of Arts and the Master of Science degrees in Organizational Communication from the University of Texas at Austin. She went on to earn the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Educational Policy from Georgia State University.

A resident of Fayette County, she and her husband, Theodore, are the proud parents of two sons—Emmanuel and Joshua. The Herrings are members of New Birth South Baptist Church in McDonough, Georgia.

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