Kerri L. Briggs was appointed Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education by President Bush on March 6, 2007, and served until the end of his administration. Briggs is a native of Midland, Texas, but spent the majority of her childhood years in Houston, Texas. In 1989, she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at Stephen F. Austin State University. She earned her masters degree at the University of Southern California and received a PhD in education policy and organizational studies. She worked for two years as a research associate and as the director of evaluation at the University of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts in Austin. After this she began working foe the Department of Education, she served one year as senior policy advisor in the Office of the Deputy Secretary. Briggs worked on K-12 policy relating to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. In 2001 she became the senior policy advisor in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education working in regards to the state accountability plans for the NCLB. 

 

Briggs served as acting assistant secretary for planning, evaluation and policy development from September of 2006 to January 2007. She then obtained her current position as assistant secretary.

 

After leaving the federal government, Briggs was chosen to be state superintendent of education for Washington D.C.