Michael Cohen is president of Achieve, Inc., where he oversees efforts to ensure that the quality of states’ standards-based reforms remain high. Previously he was a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute and director of education policy at the National Governors Association, where he helped the governors and President George H.W. Bush set national education goals. From 1993 to 2001, he served in several senior education policy positions in the Clinton administration, including special assistant to the president for education policy and assistant secretary of education for elementary and secondary education. As senior advisor to the secretary, Mr. Cohen was the point person for developing, enacting, and implementing initiatives on standards, testing and accountability. Mr. Cohen earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the State University of New York at Binghamton and completed graduate work at both the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and Johns Hopkins University.