Lisa Lachlan

Managing TA Consultant

Lisa Lachlan is a managing TA consultant at AIR. Dr. Lachlan has more than a decade of experience managing policy, practice and systems change projects in education at the federal, state and district levels. At the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders (GTL Center), she spearheads support to states and districts on the design, implementation, and study of mentoring and induction, including development of the Mentoring and Induction Toolkit 2.0 aimed at addressing equity by increasing beginning teacher retention and effectiveness in high-need schools. Through this work, Dr. Lachlan directed the Mentoring and Induction Affinity Group—a group of six states and nine partner districts focusing specifically on this topic as part of the Talent for Turnaround Leadership Academy, and leads the GTL Center’s team providing intensive supports on mentoring and induction to Hawaii, Indiana, and Oregon.  

As the director of strategic partnerships for the GTL Center, she directs projects on educator equity, educator talent management, professional learning, working conditions, diversification of the teaching workforce, teacher leadership, instructional coaching, socio-emotional learning, and educator effectiveness systems. As a content expert, she also serves to support Regional Comprehensive Centers and Regional Education Laboratories in their educator talent management projects. Dr. Lachlan also directs large-scale, multi-year projects and has served as a content expert for multiple education workforce initiatives, including but not limited to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Supporting Teacher Effectiveness Project, the University of North Carolina General Administration’s Study of Beginning Teacher Needs, the University of California at Davis’ Resourcing Excellence in Education (REEd) Project, the Ohio Department of Education’s Implementing the Ohio Teacher Evaluation Systems and the U.S. Department of Education-funded State Support Network, Teacher Incentive Fund, and Reform Support Network.

Lisa Lachlan
Expertise
Education

Ed.D., Educational Psychology, Northern Illinois University

Contact Lisa Lachlan

+1.202.403.5000
Related Work

The Rising Cost of Becoming an Educator: Reimagining Pathways Into the Profession With Affordable, Cost-Effective, and Responsive Solutions

17 Oct 2023
In this brief, the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders examines the impact of the student loan crisis on the teaching profession. We offer potentially promising and sustainable solutions that require reimagining current programming to include cost-effective and responsive solutions.

Prioritizing an Integrated Approach to Educator Shortages and Workforce Diversity

29 Sep 2023
Approaching educator shortages without a commitment to educator diversity overlooks multiple realities that disproportionately impact students and educators who are marginalized and minoritized. Our latest resources, co-authored with the Center for Black Educator Development, highlight three critical realities that affect the current educator workforce. ...
Image of socially distanced teachers in a classroom, wearing masks

Federal Relief Funds: An Opportunity to Invest in Teachers

19 May 2021
With a new round of COVID-19 relief funds headed to states and districts nationwide, education leaders have a rare opportunity to make strategic and comprehensive investments in the teacher workforce.
Image of man doing math on a whiteboard

In Conversation: How an International Survey Can Help Us Understand the Challenges the Coronavirus Poses for Educators

09 Jul 2020
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, teachers, principals, and students have had to quickly adjust to distance learning or e-learning. Although data were gathered before the pandemic, the results of the spring 2020 release of Volume 2 of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) offer insights about teachers and principals ...
Image of boy distance learning on his laptop

Teacher Appreciation in the Time of Coronavirus

04 May 2020
Right now, teachers must navigate additional challenges to accommodate the coronavirus pandemic and school shutdowns. For Teacher Appreciation Week 2020, we are honored to showcase the ingenuity, creativity, and care that teachers are bringing to their virtual classrooms, and to families and communities, as shared by AIR’s experts. ...
Infographic: How do U.S. teachers and principals compare with teachers, principals internationally?

In Conversation: Insights on U.S. Teachers and Principals from an International Survey

07 Oct 2019
How does the U.S. education workforce compare to other countries in terms of demographics, attitudes, and beliefs? Do they spend more time on instruction and other tasks than international educators? AIR provides technical and substantive support for the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), which provides a barometer of the ...

Uncommon Measures: Teacher Self-Evaluation to Encourage Professional Growth

15 Nov 2015
In an effort to develop a balanced and valid system, states and districts increasingly have moved toward using multiple measures in educator evaluation. This guidance document focuses on the use of teacher self-evaluations as an alternative measure, including background information on self-evaluation, information on its use in teacher evaluation systems, ...

Uncommon Measures: Using Teacher Portfolios in Educator Evaluation

15 Nov 2015
In an effort to develop a balanced and valid system, states and districts increasingly have moved toward using multiple measures in educator evaluation. This guidance document focuses on the use of teacher portfolios as an alternative measure, including background information on portfolios, information on their use in teacher evaluation systems, ...

Uncommon Measures: Student Surveys and Their Use in Measuring Teaching Effectiveness

15 Nov 2015
In an effort to develop a balanced and valid system, states and districts increasingly have moved toward using multiple measures in educator evaluation. This document provides guidance regarding the use of student surveys, including benefits and limitations of their use, summaries of vendor-developed student surveys and how they have been ...

Uncommon Measures: Using Peer Evaluation to Leverage Teacher Talent

15 Nov 2015
In an effort to develop a balanced and valid system, states and districts increasingly have moved toward using multiple measures in educator evaluation. This guidance document focuses on the use of teacher peer-evaluation as an alternative measure, including background information, information on its use in teacher evaluation systems, and recommendations, ...

Essential Components of Student Learning Objectives Implementation: A Practice Brief

19 May 2015
Student learning objectives (SLOs) have become the preferred measure of student growth in many new systems of teacher evaluation and compensation. This SLO practice brief aims to assist states and districts in the implementation of SLOs by providing practical steps for building a sustainable system of developing and measuring student ...

The Art and Science of Student Learning Objectives: A Research Synthesis

18 May 2015
Student learning measures have rapidly become common in teacher evaluation systems across the United States. This report provides an overview of key findings from the nearly 20 studies of SLO measures that have been conducted to date, along with considerations for future research and for practice.

What We Know About SLOs: An Annotated Bibliography of Research on and Evaluations of Student Learning Objectives

19 Apr 2015
A companion piece to The Art and Science of Student Learning Objectives: A Research Synthesis, this annotated bibliography provides brief summaries of individual studies conducted in nine states and districts, highlighting general research context and questions, study methodology, and key findings.

Proficiency or Growth? An Exploration of Two Approaches for Writing Student Learning Targets

15 Apr 2015
Student learning and growth have become important factors in measuring educator effectiveness. In this report, concrete examples of both approaches are highlighted to provide clarity and particular attention is paid to the benefits and drawbacks of each approach.

Student Learning Objectives: Benefits, Challenges, and Solutions

15 Nov 2012
Not all student growth measures are alike, nor are they designed to be. But when student growth measures are used for educator evaluation, fairness and comparability become critical. This paper focuses on the benefits and challenges of student learning objectives (SLOs) and their use in educator effectiveness systems. To support ...

Implementing Student Learning Objectives: Core Elements for Sustainability

01 Nov 2012
To support the student learning objective (SLO) implementation and sustainability process, states and districts can provide resources for teachers, evaluators, and SLO leaders that improve the quality of SLOs, rigor of assessments, and consistency of scoring. This report outlines the importance of these resources while considering the variety of implementation ...

Student Learning Objectives as Measures of Educator Effectiveness: The Basics

01 Nov 2012
Student learning objectives (SLOs) have emerged as a novel approach to measuring student growth, particularly for the majority of educators not covered by a state standardized assessment. This report offers some ideas for states and districts that are considering the use of SLOs to measure student growth, including a basic ...

Creating Summative Educator Effectiveness Scores: Approaches to Combining Measures

19 Mar 2012
Recognizing that human capital is the most important asset to teaching and learning, states and districts are rethinking their approaches to evaluating teachers’ performance. This white paper is intended to assist states and districts in strategically combining measures into a summative score in a way that reflects their goals and ...

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Education Commission of the States Ed Note

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