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McCown's Legacy Will Live On in Education

Posted: December 13, 2005

Although friends and colleagues of R. Gaynor McCown, Ed.M.'87, were touched by her passion for education, some may argue that many who didn't know McCown were among those who benefited most by her work.

R. Gaynor McCown, Ed.M.'87, in 2002
(photo by Stella Johnson)

On November 14, McCown, 45, executive director of the Teaching Commission and a former senior education policy analyst in the Clinton Administration died of bile duct cancer in her Manhattan home.

Since earning her degree from HGSE, McCown made her way to become a powerful and remarkable educator in America.

"She was an incredibly optimistic person committed to school reform," says HGSE Professor Thomas Kane. "She should be an inspiration to students and faculty at the school."

Kane first met McCown at St. Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana, where McCown attended school as an undergraduate. Although neither studied education at the time, Kane says that their similar backgrounds as southerners created an instant bond.

Following graduation from St. Mary's, McCown worked in Santiago, Chile, counseling families suffering from drug and alcohol addictions. She also spent time working for Catholic Charities prior to enrolling at HGSE.

After completing her master's degree in 1987, McCown worked for five years as a science and health teacher at Bronx Regional High School in New York. McCown's experience teaching later became the driving force of her work as an education policy maker and advocate.

"She was convinced that the key thing affecting education outcomes is the quality of the teaching force and the background, preparation, and working conditions for teachers," Kane says. "She thought the quality of the teaching force was the issue rather than accountability and other things."

After leaving the Bronx in 1993, McCown took a job as a White House Fellow in Washington, DC, where she learned public policy and lawmaking. She stayed in Washington working with the Clinton Administration through 1996.

While in Washington, McCown didn't go unnoticed. She worked on a number of policies revolving around charter schools, the introduction of school uniforms, and the standards movement, says Josh Greenman, director of strategy and communications--and McCown's colleague--at the Teaching Commission in New York.

"You may not be able to call any one person responsible [for a policy], but she contributed to these policies, believed in them, and they are part of her legacy," Greenman says.

Eventually McCown returned to New York to work as senior vice president for educational and workforce development for the New York City Partnership and Chamber of Commerce. At the partnership, she focused on increasing the private sector's role in public education. She also led Breakthrough for Learning, the first pay-for-performance system in the New York City Public Schools. Over the years, Breakthrough for Learning has been responsible for implementing signing bonuses for principals, as well as discounted mortgages and apartment loans for teachers.

By 1998, she had moved on to Edison Schools where she worked with the communications and development team to set up professional development programs in the United Kingdom.

In 2002, McCown was recruited as executive director for the Teaching Commission, where she worked until her death. At the commission, she focused on crafting and implementing reform agendas as a way to revitalize the teaching profession in the U.S. As part of her job, McCown lobbied for higher teacher compensations, change in teacher preparation and training, teacher certification and licensure reform, and teacher support improvements.

"She personally understood the contributions that a teacher could make, which is if we don't invest in the teaching profession and give it all of the imagination and innovation that we give to so many other fields, then we're going to be dead in the water," Greenman says. "Schools are only as good as their teachers."

In 2004, McCown served as lead author of the commission's bipartisan report, Teaching at Risk: A Call to Action, which recommends policies to overcome existing barriers and make improvement efforts on school issues like low standards. Fellow commission members who signed the report included former First Lady Barbara Bush, former education secretary Richard W. Riley, and Carnegie Corporation of New York Chairman Vartan Gregorian.

During a House testimony on the report, McCown explained her stance on the importance of teachers to the government. "The nation will not continue to lead if we persist in viewing teaching--the profession that makes all other professions possible--as a second-rate occupation," she said.

McCown continued to focus her attention on teacher advocacy and school reform, even well into her 10-month battle with cancer.

"Two months ago, even when she was mortally ill, she organized a conference call where she got me on the phone to discuss potential projects to work on together," Kane says. "She just had more energy than any of us."