Catherine Jacques, MEd, PMP, is the project lead for the Iowa Teacher Leadership and Compensation Sustainability Project under the Region 9 Comprehensive Center and a researcher at the American Institutes for Research (AIR).
Jacques has worked in education for more than 15 years as a teacher, researcher, and technical assistance provider; for the past decade, Jacques has studied the intersection of teacher leadership, educator effectiveness, and school improvement. Her extensive experience in state and local educator-focused initiatives provides a strong foundation for understanding the dynamics of state, regional, and local education systems. Jacques has worked directly with many state educational agencies and leading national organizations around teacher leadership. Previously, through the Midwest Comprehensive Center and Texas Comprehensive Center, Jacques directly supported and advised multiple state educational agencies around how to foster local teacher leadership, helping to launch ongoing initiatives impacting hundreds of educators. Jacques also led the “Good to Great” study series, working closely with teacher researchers from the National Network of State Teachers of the Year. For the past 4 years, Jacques worked closely with the Iowa Department of Education as an expert advisor with the Council of Chief State School Officers Teaching, Leading, and Learning Collaborative. Jacques brings an impact-focused and strategic lens to her work, focusing on how context and local implementation of educator-focused initiatives drive measurable changes in student outcomes.
As a certified Project Management Professional, Jacques uses project management processes to drive her work, ensuring that project work is completed while meeting scope, cost, and schedule expectations. Jacques holds a master’s degree in education policy from the School of Education at the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in English from Guilford College in North Carolina.