Center for School Improvement

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Two former Virginia superintendents of public instruction are now leading a nationwide effort to strengthen K-12 education at Virginia Commonwealth University.

VCU’s Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute (CEPI), under the leadership of Bill Bosher, Ed.D., has established the new CENTER FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT and recruited Jo Lynne DeMary, Ed.D., to be its director.

In her new position, Dr. DeMary will partner with local, state, and national education officials to improve leadership, instruction, and student achievement through research and best practices.

She will draw on her success and experience as state superintendent in designing and implementing Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOL) as she carries out the mission of the new center. When Dr. DeMary retired as state superintendent at the end of 2005, 92 percent of Virginia’s schools were meeting SOL standards and more than 80 percent were meeting the objectives of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

In 2000, she was appointed as the first woman superintendent of public instruction in Virginia after serving six months as acting superintendent. She was reappointed to a full, four-year term in 2002.

In her 38 years in education, she has been a teacher in Richmond, Fairfax County, and Henrico County; and an assistant principal, principal, elementary school supervisor, director of special education, and assistant superintendent of instruction in Henrico County.

Dr. Bill Bosher is Executive Director of the Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute — a legislative entity created to focus on research, training, and policy analysis — and Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Education.CEPI is sponsored and governed jointly by the VCU School of Education and the VCU Center for Public Policy.

In his 37 years in education, he has been a teacher, principal, state director, local superintendent of two districts with 35,000 to 50,000 students and the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Commonwealth of Virginia with 1.1 million students. He recently served three years as Dean of the VCU School of Education.

Dr. Bosher has served as a consultant in more than 35 states and a dozen foreign countries on topics related to educational law and finance, policy analysis, standards development, school evaluations and human relations. He has spoken to numerous state and national conventions including public sector school boards and administrators as well as corporate organizations.

Dr. Bosher has been honored by several statewide and national organizations for leadership, service, and contributions to the arts. He has written more than thirty-nine articles and has coauthored two books on school law and educational leadership (Law and Education:
Contemporary Issues and Court Decisions and The School Law Handbook, What Every Leader Needs to Know).

Dr. DeMary (right) received her doctorate in Educational Planning and Administration from The College of William & Mary in 1982, her master’s degree in Special Education from the VCU School of Education in 1972, and her bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education/Psychology from the College of William and Mary in 1968.

Dr. Bosher (left) received his doctorate in Education Administration in 1974 from the University of Virginia, his master’s degree in Counselor
Education in 1969 from VCU, and his bachelor’s degree in English in 1968 from the University of Richmond. He received distinguished alumnus awards from all three universities.