Key Staff
Tricia Coulter, Ph.D.
Trained in both qualitative and quantitative research methods, Dr. Coulter is able to identify valid and reliable scientifically based research. She is adept at dealing with all levels of education leaders and decision makers. She also has experience working with academics, state-level administrators, experts from other research and policy organizations, and state legislators. As the coordinator of the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) K–16 Professional Development Collaborative—the group of state-level individuals with primary administrative responsibility for the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Title II Student Affairs in High Education Partnership grants—Dr. Coulter was able to coordinate information-dissemination processes and techniques and pursue the collection of data and resources that enabled states to implement high-quality, successful programs.
In her current position as Deputy Director of the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality (TQ Center) at Learning Point Associates, Dr. Coulter is able to capitalize on her deep content knowledge and passion for teacher quality-related issues in concert with her ability to effectively deal with education leaders and decision makers at all levels. Through her association with the Center for Improving Teacher Quality, she will be able to coordinate efforts of all staff at ECS to meet the needs of the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality and to leverage the quality and extensive resources of ECS.
Dr. Coulter has extensive research and policy-analysis experience. As a research analyst at a state higher education agency, she gained experience in writing education policy, analyzing the veracity and appropriateness of policies and initiatives, utilizing data and research to forecast and evaluate plans and proposals, and evaluating the effectiveness of policies and initiatives.
These skills were further enhanced through her experience working with SHEEO, a national policy organization. There Dr. Coulter was the lead for all teacher quality-related projects and efforts, including her work with states to target and implement policy and practices to improve the capacity of K–12 teachers in the states. Dr. Coulter was responsible for the enhancement and maintenance of the SHEEO Compendium of Resources on Teacher Quality, an online resource of teacher quality-related publications. In this capacity, Dr. Coulter determined the criteria by which resources were included in the compendium and reviewed and summarized these resources. She also convened and worked with an advisory board of leading national experts to evaluate and guide this work. These experiences further deepened Dr. Coulter's content and process knowledge of teacher quality issues and their implementation at the state level.
