The Bush Institute is pleased to welcome Dr. Anne McClellan as manager of its Middle School Matters program, which aims to create a model for...
The Bush Institute is pleased to welcome Dr. Anne McClellan as manager of its Middle School Matters program, which aims to create a model for boosting middle-school achievement. She will be responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of strategies to transform middle schools in coordination with participating institutions. Anne comes to us from YES Prep Public Schools, a nationally recognized network of charter schools that currently serves over 5,200 low-income students in Houston. During her tenure at YES Prep, the school system more than doubled in size and opened five new campuses. Working with the Board and leadership team, Anne helped YES Prep complete its first-ever bond financing package. That package relied on federal and state community redevelopment programs for help and offers other charter schools a new model for financing their own needs. YES Prep is excited for Anne to now be in a position to share the best practices she learned during her time in the organization with the national education work that the Bush Institute is pursuing. Before joining YES Prep, Anne was a program officer at the Texas High School Project, a public-private alliance designed to prepare teenagers for the challenges of college and the job market. Anne also has extensive experience as a school leader: She served as principal of Houston’s Challenge Early College High School from 2003 to 2005, during which time she was a Houston Independent School District “master principal.” Earlier in her career, between 1990 and 2001, Anne served as principal of the city’s Edgar Allan Poe Elementary School. For more than half of her tenure at Poe (1995 to 2001), the school earned an “exemplary” rating from the Texas Education Agency. After leaving Poe, she became a principal coach at the Houston A+ Challenge Leadership Academy and founded the Center for the Reform of School Systems. Anne did her graduate studies at the University of Houston, and she has been honored with two of its prestigious awards (the Outstanding Alumni Award and the Oberholtzer Award). In 1989, when she was lead assistant principal at Robert E. Lee Senior High School, Anne received the Hamman Foundation’s Outstanding Educator Award. She has devoted her professional life to improving the quality of American public schools, with a particular focus on helping underprivileged students. Anne will be a wonderful fit at the Bush Institute, and we are thrilled that she is joining our team.
