Jermaine Gassaway

Jermaine Gassaway is a native of Washington, DC. He began advocating for quality education at a very young age which ultimately led to him deciding to leave DC at the age of 15 to attend a boarding school called The Piney Woods School in Jackson, Mississippi—a decision that changed his life and trajectory. Jermaine went on to become a proud graduate of Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Jermaine is a strong advocate for equity in public education, with a particular focus on increasing teacher diversity in public schools. He recently published Unopened Books: Multiplying the 2%, which documents “the unfathomable rate of black males in education” and details the transformative power of building a teacher workforce that more closely resembles the diversity of the students in our schools. Jermaine taught 3rd through 8th grades and was a 2010 Teach For America corps member in Detroit, where over 90 percent of his students scored “advanced” or “proficient” on the state standardized assessment (MEAP), and where he also served as Curriculum Coordinator.

Jermaine was previously the principal at Rocketship Nashville Northeast Elementary School for 4 years and has helped lead his school to achieve Reward status— the highest performance rating in the state of Tennessee. In addition, Rocketship Nashville Northeast Elementary School grew 3 times faster than any other elementary school in Nashville on the state standardized assessment for the 2018-2019 school year. Jermaine also served as Rocketship’s Director of Schools for Nashville.

Jermaine is passionately committed to ensuring the success of all students. He fervently believes that all students deserve an excellent education and the quest to reach and complete college and achieve lifelong success starts now with every book read and every equation solved. He is excited to work closely with teachers, school leaders, and community members to ensure students are making the academic gains necessary to achieve this success in school and life. Jermaine is a proud husband and father to two amazing kids and his hobbies include running, traveling, and reading.