Dr. Gregory Jones is a language educator with more than thirty years of service in the profession. He began his work in language education in the District of Columbia Public Schools, followed by 21 years of service in Alexandria City Public schools, where he also served as the Curriculum Specialist for World Languages and Dual Language Immersion for eight years.
In 2012 Dr. Jones joined Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) as the World Languages Coordinator. With the support of a dynamic and innovative team Gregory was responsible for curriculum development and its implementation, assessment and program management, professional learning, and instructional support to the division’s 600 plus K-12 World Languages instructors.
While in FCPS, Dr. Jones and his team expanded secondary World Languages program offerings to 12 languages, to include one of the few Vietnamese programs on the east coast. Korean language offerings were added at numerous schools across the school division and to the Online Campus during his tenure. Gregory also facilitated the addition of Arabic and Chinese languages as Online Campus course offerings.
Additionally, the Credit Exam for World Languages assessment offerings increased from 21-31 languages under Dr. Jones’ guidance. FCPS Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools (FLES) programs flourished from 32 to 54 in number and Dual Language Immersion programs expanded from 12 to 16 under Gregory’s leadership.
With the implementation of the Virginia Seal of Biliteracy, one of Dr. Jones’ most memorable achievements as WL Coordinator was the administration of internally and externally state-approved language assessments, which resulted in approximately 3,000 FCPS students being awarded the Seal of Biliteracy annually.
Dr. Jones served two terms as president of the Virginia Organization of World Language Supervisors and more than five years as a board member for the Foreign Languages Association of Virginia. A first-generation college graduate, Gregory holds a BA in French language and literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MAT in Secondary Curriculum and Teaching from Howard University, and a Ph.D. in Education Leadership, with a concentration in Multicultural-multilingual Education from George Mason University. Dr. Jones has also completed undergraduate language studies at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi and graduate studies at Middlebury College and the American University in Paris.