About me
Lisa currently serves as an Early Childhood Specialist for the Virginia Department of Education's Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC) at Old Dominion University. Her passion for supporting young children with disabilities has been evident across settings, with a commitment to building inclusive practices for children birth to five. Lisa began her career as a Resource Mother, a home visiting program aimed at supporting positive birth outcomes for pregnant teens and their babies. She then served 19 years in a public school division, first as a School Psychologist and later as a Program Specialist where she supervised the Early Childhood Special Education program for twelve years. In her work leading teams, she is most proud of leading a time to transition a self-contained preschool center into inclusive classrooms across the division, improving indicator 6 data above the state target in VA. Lisa remains committed to building teacher capacity to invest in student outcomes. She has a solid background in systems change and experience leading several system-wide initiatives at the local level including the Inclusive Placement Opportunities for Preschoolers (IPOP), the Virginia Commonwealth University- Autism Center for Excellence Project PASS (Preparing for Academic & Social Success) program, and the Early Childhood Inclusion Professional Learning Community. Now as a TTAC Specialist, Lisa works with her colleagues to provide regional technical assistance to 33 Virginia school divisions. At the state level, Lisa serves on the Family Engagement Network and the Virginia Early Childhood Network, working with other TTAC specialists across the state to fulfill Virginia's 619 Scope of Work, including participation in the ICP Workgroup, the IPOP Workgroup, and the ECSE LEADS Workgroup. Lisa serves as a DEC aRPy Ambassador, VA DEC Vice-President, and Teachstone Reviewer. Lisa is pursuing her doctorate in Education at Radford University, focusing on improvement science.