OUR STORY

The Center for Innovation in Education (C!E) was founded in 2013 by Gene Wilhoit and Linda Pittenger, both seasoned state education leaders who formerly helmed the Kentucky Department of Education and the Council of Chief State School Officers. Not your typical bureaucrats, Wilhoit and Pittenger advanced a vision for education systems - and for their new organization - animated by the belief that every person matters. They viewed it the responsibility of organizations and institutions to ensure every person—youth and adults alike—feels valued and has what they need to thrive.

 

They created C!E to pursue this vision by supporting innovative, equity-seeking leaders and practitioners across the country. They helped articulate a New Paradigm for education systems —one that is “reciprocal and comprehensive” and is able to “nurture the intrinsic motivation needed to develop responsibility on the part of each actor at each level of the system.” And they convened communities of like-minded education leaders and practitioners carrying the work forward.