Betheny Lyke

Betheny Lyke is a former school and district leader who understands the demands facing school leaders and district administrators. In her role as principal consultant of the District and School Improvement Center, Dr. Lyke uses research-based strategies to help schools and districts build systems that improve outcomes and sustain improvements over time. Dr. Lyke also serves as deputy director of the Midwest Comprehensive Center, supporting a team that helps state, district, and school leaders in seven states identify, implement, and sustain evidence-based programs and practices, with the goal of improving outcomes for educators and students.

For six years, Dr. Lyke served as the executive director of the Illinois Center for School Improvement at AIR, leading a team of 100 staff from across the state to achieve substantial success in supporting leaders from underperforming urban, rural, and suburban schools and districts as they transformed their systems to boost student achievement. The Center’s efforts resulted in a significant number of schools moving out of the lowest performing categories of the state’s accountability system.

Dr. Lyke began her career as a mathematics teacher with Chicago Public Schools and Thornton Township High School District in South Holland. She advanced her education career at Thornton Township High School District having served in a variety of administrative roles including four years as a principal with the district. Dr. Lyke was appointed to serve as assistant superintendent and later superintendent for the same district. As a district administrator she led a variety of turnaround strategies to halt and then reverse the trend of declining student achievement. She also served as a Rising Star trainer and School Improvement Grants reviewer for the Illinois State Board of Education.