Jessica Axt

Growing up, Jessica and her sister spent hours writing fanciful adventure stories and fairy tales in the “classroom” they’d set up in the basement of their home. In high school, Jessica contributed to her school newspaper and took as many English and writing classes as she could. But it wasn’t until she took her first college journalism class that she realized, much to her delight, that she might actually be able to do this for a living!

Jessica graduated from Miami University with a major in English/journalism and a minor in marketing. She worked for six years at a small daily newspaper in Hamilton, Ohio where she cut her teeth covering courts and crime including several high-profile death penalty trials. Jessica was later recruited to the region’s largest newspaper, the Cincinnati Enquirer, and spent the next nine years gaining new skills at the fast-paced metro daily. She covered everything from community news to government/politics to education.

As the newspaper industry transitioned to focus more on online content, Jessica also became adept at using social media to build audience. She also regularly produced videos to accompany her work online.

Jessica’s longest stint at the Enquirer was covering K-12 education. The role helped her gain a true appreciation of the issues and challenges facing urban and suburban school districts, students and parents. She’s written about national education policy, dropout prevention, school lunch programs and everything in between.

Jessica developed expertise on many aspects of education policy and continued this work after she moved to Washington D.C. by working briefly as a contributing writer for Education Week. She joined KEH in July.

Jessica spends her free time being a “hometown tourist,” exploring the jewels of the nation’s capital with her family. She also enjoys the outdoors and traveling. She and her family try to visit a National Park every year.

Contact Jessica at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .