American Institutes for Research

Verna Lalbeharie serves as the managing director for Digital Age Personalized Learning at AIR, where she is a key member of the team that is growing and shaping AIR’s applied work nationally in the field of K-12 education primarily focused on innovative approaches to teaching and learning in the digital age, especially personalized learning.

Prior to joining AIR, Lalbeharie served as the State Director of Digital Teaching and Learning at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. During her time as the state director, Verna led the implementation of the digital learning plan and the development of digital learning competencies for teachers and administrators, and managed the state procured eco-system of digital tools and resources in NC’s Home Base system.

Lalbeharie was also a senior program director, co-leading the Digital Learning Collaborative at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University, where she engaged educators at all levels in innovative models of professional learning and strategic planning to support digital age teaching and learning. She served as the lead- or co-principal investigator on many projects including, the NC Learning Technology Initiative: Statewide Capacity Building; Golden LEAF Foundation’s Learning Technology Readiness Initiative and a number of local education agency learning technology initiatives across NC.

Before joining the Friday Institute, Lalbeharie had spent most of her career working on initiatives and research efforts that advance student success. Her work has focused on both secondary and postsecondary education reform. She worked in an R&D capacity in the non-profit environment for 13 years, first at Jobs for the Future in Boston, MA and then at MDC, Inc. in Durham, NC. In both these organizations, Verna worked on teams that managed complex, large-scale, national, multi-component, and multi-year education initiatives.