Ginger Cook

Early Literacy District Coach,

Oakland Unified School District

Ginger Cook is an early literacy district coach in Oakland Unified School District, where she supports literacy improvement efforts across multiple schools. She was previously a teacher on special assignment and a third-grade teacher at Acorn Woodland Elementary School in Oakland, where she led language arts implementation and helped the school achieve the district’s highest growth in reading performance. She has been a regional director, national education consultant, and state and district partnerships manager for the Center for the Collaborative Classroom. She was also a research assistant at Stanford University in the Center for Research on the Context of Teaching, focusing on teaching in New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Cook began her career as a Teach for America corps member, teaching third through fifth grades in the Rio Grande Valley. Cook earned her PhD in education from Stanford University.

updated 2025

Contributing topics

Access, quality & alignment in early childhood education

Education finance

Educational governance & policy

Publications by Ginger Cook

April 2002

New Lives for Poor Families?

Mothers and Young Children Move Through Welfare Reform

This report discusses the lack of knowledge about the impact of welfare-to-work programs on young children since 1996, and how policy leaders are debating ways to aid jobless mothers and enrich their children's lives. The project team followed 948…

April 2002

New Lives for Poor Families?

Mothers and Young Children Move Through Welfare Reform: Executive Summary

This report examines how welfare-to-work programs have affected the lives of young children since 1996, and how they've impacted the home and childcare settings in which they are raised. The study followed 948 mothers and preschool-age children in…