Erin Jones was born in the United States but raised in the Netherlands, where her parents worked as teachers at the American School of The Hague. Erin speaks four languages and returned to the United States in 1989 to attend Bryn Mawr College, where she earned a BA in Comparative Literature with a focus on literatures of the African Diaspora. Erin later earned her teaching certificate at Pacific Lutheran University with endorsements in English, French and ELL. She was named Most Innovative Foreign Language Teacher in 2007 and in 2008 she was selected as the Washington State Milken Educator of the Year. Erin served three years as Assistant State Superintendent for Student Achievement in Washington State, where she was responsible for working with educators and policy makers to create policies and practices that would better serve students of color and students otherwise disenfranchised. Based on a desire to be closer to students and teachers, Erin recently took a position as the Director of Equity and Achievement for the Federal Way School District, a large, very diverse district south of Seattle.