Brookline Mother Of 5 Appointed Chair Of State Board Of Education

NEWTON, MA- A familiar Brookline face has just been appointed to serve as the chairperson of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Gov. Charlie Baker appointed Brookline resident Katherine Craven to the post as Paul Sagan steps down, following four years as chairman of the board.

The 11 member board is responsible for approving learning standards, voting on charter school applications, deciding when to intervene in the state's lowest-performing districts, and hiring the commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

In the past four years, the board has implemented new curriculum standards in math, English Language Arts and history and created standards for digital literacy and computer science. The board also oversaw the launch of the next generation MCAS test in 2017.

“I look forward to continuing the great work of Chairman Sagan and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to promote forward-thinking policies providing educational opportunity for nearly 1 million children of all different learning styles and socio-economic backgrounds across the Commonwealth,” Craven said in a statement.

Craven, first appointed to the 11-member Board in 2014, will be sworn in as chair person next month. Regularly referred to as a "superstar," in state government, she was the first executive director of the Massachusetts School Building Authority in 2004 and the first deputy state treasurer before she was appointed executive director of the authority in 2011.

Craven began her career in state budget analysis, planning and policy, helping deliver more than 10 state budgets for the Massachusetts House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means.

In 2004, she was appointed as the founding executive director and chief executive officer of the Massachusetts School Building Authority. While leading the School Building Authority, Craven was also named first deputy treasurer of the commonwealth.

She is a member of a number of local government and community organization boards, such as the Dorchester Boys and Girls Club, the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress, the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, and Women in Public Finance. Craven got a Bachelor of Arts in History from Harvard University. She lives in Brookline, with her husband and five children and works as the chief administrative and financial officer of Babson College in Wellesley.

Related: Newton's Matt Hills Appointed To State Board Of Education