Dr. Tara Laughlin

Experience

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  Various School Districts

  Jul 2005 - Jun 2015

  Educator & Teacher Leader

  For 10 years, I built a strong foundation in educational practices as an Educator and Teacher Leader for school districts in Colorado and South Carolina. This was an exciting and formative time for me, as I honed my instructional practice across all levels of K-12 education, and cultivated expertise in authentic assessment, backward design, and improvement science.During this time, I worked to pilot innovative, student-centered practices and coached educator teams to implement a 21st century skills integration model. In designing relevant, meaningful learning experiences that targeted the gaps and leveraged student assets, I generated significant improvement in classroom and standardized assessments results. Show less

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  University of Northern Colorado

  Aug 2010 - May 2014

  Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant

  -Assisted professors with university research-Collected, organized, and analyzed qualitative data for relevant findings-Taught undergraduate education courses

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  PAIRIN

  Jun 2015 - Jul 2019

  Director of Curriculum and Training

  As Director of Curriculum & Training for PAIRIN, I served on the Senior Leadership Team and regularly collaborated with colleagues from across the organization, including leaders in operations, product, engineering, sales, and marketing. I led a team of 3 learning and development professionals in building personalized, competency-based curriculum and training products focused on soft/social-emotional skills. I designed and developed curriculum trainings ranging from 8 – 16 hours; and facilitated more than 100 training sessions with 300 clients representing 25 organizations. The soft skills curriculum my team delivered included 200+ online and in-person courses, including multimedia components such as lessons, videos, infographics, how-to guides, and exercises, and focused on teaching empathy, grit, self-awareness, and problem solving – all critical skills. It’s been used by 15,000 adult, college, and high school learners, with an overwhelming 97% experiencing meaningful growth in their career readiness as a result. During this time, I also contributed thought leadership in the field as a highly rated speaker at national conferences and regular blogger. Show less

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  Denver Public Schools

  Jul 2019 - Jan 2021

  Competency-Based Learning Specialist

  As a Competency-Based Learning Specialist, I developed district-wide policies and processes to drive next-generation education in Denver Public Schools, the largest school district in Colorado, serving 207 schools and 93,000 students. I helped launch a new competency-based learning program across 38 high schools. I also developed and facilitated training programs to help leaders and teachers better understand and implement this new program.

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  2Revolutions

  Jan 2020 - Oct 2022

  Educational Consultant

  In partnership with 2Revolutions, I supported districts in implementing authentic assessment and competency-based practices.

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  Alelo

  Aug 2020 - Nov 2020

  Learning Experience Designer

  Consult on best practices in learning design for an AI-based simulation tool for serving language learners.

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  Education Design Lab

  Jan 2021 - now

  As Director, Skills Development & Validation, I lead the design, pilot, and scale of solutions which enable the development and validation of durable ("soft") skills, primarily focused on creating greater opportunity for STARs - those individuals who are Skilled Through Alternate Routes, rather than a bachelors degree. This includes our vsbl platform for skills development and the Lab's portfolio of skills validation initiatives, now in its third funded year. In this role, I:★ Coordinate the work of ~30 partner organizations toward our shared deliverables★ Lead a team of 4 designers★ Oversee a $1.5M budget★ Set strategy and process for the development of a set of 100+ next-generation competency-based courses and assessments, leveraging learning + simulation technologies★ Ideate and prototype additional skill development + validation tools and methods★ Contribute thought leadership (publications and conference presentations) in areas related to competency-based learning, assessment, and hiring Show less

  • Director, Skills Development & Validation

    Feb 2024 - now

  • Senior Education Designer, Digital Transformation

    Jun 2022 - Feb 2024

  • Education Designer, Micro-Credentialing

    Jan 2021 - Jun 2022