Laura is the resident research enthusiast, bringing evidence and data to help education leaders and teams solve real problems of practice.
She has 10+ years of experience working in K-12 and higher education research, technical assistance, and project management. Recently, Laura led the publications work of a USDOE-funded resource center. Laura managed and wrote reports and toolkits to identify evidence-based and promising practices related to school improvement, school quality, family engagement, charter school facilities, and grants-management topics.
Previously, while at the National Center on Education and the Economy’s National Institute for School Leadership, Laura provided technical assistance to school leaders, LEA leadership teams, and private foundations across the country, including coaching and facilitation around data use for systems change in public schools. She also managed the application processes for two successful federal grant awards: a 2014 i3 Validation award of $12 million and a 2015 SEED award of $11 million.
In her academic research, Laura supported the work of a five-year qualitative study on CMOs operating turnaround schools in Tennessee’s Achievement School District. Laura frequently publishes in peer-reviewed journals and presents at national conferences, including a piece on CMOs and interorganizational learning in the Journal of Educational Administration in 2019, and a 2018 AERA presentation on a case study of social capital as a lever for turnaround in independent charter schools.
Laura received her doctorate from The George Washington University and holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Valparaiso University in Indiana. She lives in Washington DC and has recently been learning to roller skate, teaching her cats basic circus tricks, and baking bread (despite the tragic loss of her sourdough starter in April 2020, RIP).