Allison de la Torre joined the Alabama School Readiness Alliance as executive director in February 2012. Ms. de la Torre works with the board and stakeholders throughout Alabama to promote high-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten as a top statewide priority.
Ms. de la Torre has a record of success designing and implementing state-based pre-k policy initiatives and is connected to a national network of education leaders, children’s advocates, funders and experts. Prior to joining ASRA, Ms. de la Torre served as state policy associate for Pre-K Now, a campaign of the Pew Center on the States. At Pre-K Now, Allison managed a $2.5 million annual grantmaking portfolio to advance pre-k policy in more than fifteen states across the country, including Alabama. As a result of Pre-K Now’s efforts over the past decade, state funding for pre-k more than doubled nationwide to $5.1 billion in FY2012; pre-k access increased from just 700,000 children in 2001 to more than one million today; dozens of states improved the quality of their pre-k programs; and six states and DC opened their programs to all four year olds, bringing the total number of pre-k-for-all states to nine plus DC.
Ms. de la Torre has also served as legislative assistant to Oregon State Senator Vicki L. Walker, then-chair of the Senate Education and General Government Committee. Prior to her work for Senator Walker, she worked at the Children’s Institute, a leading pre-k advocacy organization in Oregon. Ms. de la Torre began her career as a pre-k assistant at La Mesa First United Methodist Church in her home town of San Diego, California.
Ms. de la Torre holds a bachelor’s degree in politics and Spanish from Willamette University and a master’s degree in education policy from the University of Maryland. Allison’s volunteer activities have included teaching pre-k to at-risk children in Quito, Ecuador, and tutoring bilingual kindergartners in Salem, Oregon.
