Erin Lavery

As Program Director, Erin plays a pivotal role in implementing ABC’s special education school improvement model in partner districts and schools. She brings over a decade of experience supporting district and school leaders to design and implement special education and intervention systems that improve outcomes for diverse learners. 

Erin has a B.A. in Secondary English Education from the State University of New York College at Geneseo, an M.Ed. in Special Education from Vanderbilt University, and an Ed.S. in Educational Administration and Supervision from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Her career began as an AmeriCorps volunteer in Washington, DC, where she taught GED classes to teenagers who had dropped out of school. This experience ignited her desire to learn more about how to better meet the needs of neurodivergent learners, ultimately leading her into special education. Erin taught special education in the middle grades for several years before leaving the classroom for a role at the Tennessee Department of Education. 

While at the state agency, Erin worked as a regional consultant and then on the statewide special education team, providing coaching and professional learning to educators in the areas of special education and intervention. Eventually, Erin took on leadership of the regional special education consultants as their director. In this role, she led the development of strategy, professional learning, and resources aimed at improving and codifying special education systems in districts, implemented feedback loops to strengthen alignment between department priorities and district needs, and facilitated learning for her internal team to prepare them for work in the field. After leaving the state agency, Erin worked as an effectiveness coach, developing and providing professional learning and coaching in inclusive practices to educators across the country.