Terry Grobe

Program Director

Contact Terry Grobe

Terry Grobe is a program director on JFF's New Pathways to Postsecondary team. She works with city and state initiatives directed at improving outcomes for struggling students and out-of-school youth. She leads JFF’s work with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Multiple Education Pathways Blueprint Initiative, a seven-city venture to grow new education options and raise high school graduation rates in these communities. She is also involved in an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop new postsecondary pathways for older youth. 

Ms. Grobe has a long history of professional experience in high school reform, alternative education, and youth systems development. At the Commonwealth Corporation, she directed Diploma Plus, a national alternative school model. She also helped create and manage the Reaching All Youth (RAY) Coalition, a statewide network of alternative schools and youth programs in Massachusetts. 

Ms. Grobe co-convened the multi-sector Youth Transition’s partnership with the Boston Private Industry Council during its first year of operation. Five years later, Boston is actively focusing on improving high school completion outcomes for young people who are not on track for graduation. 

Ms. Grobe also served as senior staff for the Center for Youth and Communities at Brandeis University. She has been a teacher at and director of alternative high schools, on staff at the internationally recognized Boston Compact, and project manager in the Governor’s Education Office in Massachusetts. She has authored papers for the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Corporation for National Service. She served as principal investigator for the national evaluation of KAPOW (Kids and the Power of Work).

Ms. Grobe holds a B.S. in education from the University of Nebraska and an M.Ed. in secondary school administration from Northeastern University.

Jobs for the Future develops, implements, and promotes new education and workforce strategies that help communities, states, and the nation compete in a global economy. In 200 communities in 41 states, JFF improves the pathways leading from high school to college to family-sustaining careers.