I am an Implementation Specialist at NIRN, provides implementation science support to the R7 TA Center and supports three State Departments of Education through the SISEP Center project. Within SISEP I work with CMO's and am fortunate to be able to partner with IUPUI to integrate implementation science into building and district leadership certification programs. I have served as a founding member and Director of the Virginia Tiered Systems of Supports Research and Implementation Center (VTSS-RIC). The VTSS-RIC is a research to practice center within the Commonwealth of Virginia whose charge is to disseminate the most current research in education and support the implementation and transformation in the field. In this role I led the state’s development and implementation of an MTSS framework to support the use of evidence-based instruction and interventions efficiently and effectively in ways that were congruent with the research. Within the center, I created and facilitated state, regional, and district teams charged with critical conversations around equitable access and opportunities for all students. I created the infrastructure that forged and facilitated relationships within and across state agencies to build networks of shared expertise and understanding. Ms. Farmer was the project director and lead architect of the state’s School Climate and Transformation Grant and State Personnel Development Grant. I have extensive experience in the application of implementation and improvement sciences as a special educator, district leader, regional technical assistance provider, and state leader. As an implementation specialist, my areas of expertise are in curriculum and instructional design, co-teaching and inclusion, behavior, and the alignment and efficiency of educational systems in ways that support and connect diverse stakeholders. I feel very lucky to have had these experiences in education. Having started as a special education teacher, that remains my centering purpose and the north star to the systems change efforts that I help to facilitate.
