I served as a school psychologist in Illinois and Iowa in districts implementing MTSS before it was cool. I had the opportunity to collaborate with exceptional teachers, leaders, and support team members.

Later in my career, I served as the district-level Special Education administrator for a district in Minnesota, where I supported teachers and leaders to improve systems for supporting students with disabilities to achieve at high levels and be college- and career-ready.

I served at regional agencies in Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota. I spent the most time at Heartland AEA 11 in Iowa, known for early and expert implementation of data-informed practices throughout their systems.

It was at Heartland where I learned how to design and deliver engaging and impactful professional learning through the wealth of resources and professional training we were provided.

I served as a school psychologist, special education trainer, and led internal professional learning for Heartland AEA 11. In my time there, I also facilitated a statewide collaborative to improve implementation of Child Find practices.

As the Chief of the Bureau of Learner Strategies and Supports, I led MTSS and Special Education for the state of Iowa. Among other things, our team led PBIS, school mental health services, special education, and MTSS implementation for the state. We were fortunate enough to have several large federal grants supporting the important work of our bureau.

My favorite part of my time at the Department was partnering with team members within the department and across the state. The Iowa AEA system is unique and provides a strong infrastructure of expertise and support to implement evidence-based practice in impressive ways.

When my family moved to Minnesota for my husband’s career, I left the Iowa DE and joined CAREI, at the University of Minnesota. I had the opportunity to partner with districts to conduct MTSS and Special Education program reviews, collaborate with partner districts, and serve on a grant supporting leader and educator use of FastBridge data.

I have served as an adjunct professor for Specialist and Doctoral students at 3 universities in Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois. Courses I’ve taught include:

• Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Academic and Literacy Assessment, Curricula, and Instruction

• Educational Research

• Assessment and Information Management for Leaders

• Applied Behavior Analysis

I shifted to the private sector in 2018, when I joined the FastBridge Learning team, serving as the Senior Director of Learning and Development, where I developed and scaled a profitable professional learning model.

I successfully managed the FastBridge Learning and Development team through an acquisition with Illuminate Education and subsequently served as the Executive Director of Professional Learning with Illuminate. During that time, our team developed and scaled a professional learning model that served 4 unique products, had high training satisfaction rates, boasted strong profit margins for professional learning and had a lot of fun while doing it!

After another acquisition and merger into Renaissance, I had the opportunity to focus on MTSS as the Senior Director of MTSS Solutions, partnering with Product, Sales, Services, and Marketing to establish Renaissance as an MTSS leader.

Recently, I also served as the Product Leader for FastBridge, given my experience and deep expertise with the product and educational assessment best practices.

I continue to contract as the MTSS Advisor for Renaissance and have seen their tools, such as FastBridge and eduCLIMBER, support educators and students in meaningful ways.