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John Spence

John Spence Photo
Project Lead

John Spence is a senior technical assistance consultant at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and serves as the co-lead with the Region 9 Comprehensive Center (R9CC), supporting the ARP ESSER project. John has served as a project director, principal investigator, subject matter expert, coach, and key contributor on projects related to educator quality, talent management, and systemic improvement for state education systems and regional centers. John also directs a multiphase project on talent management with the Qatar Foundation and serves as a lead or subject matter expert on projects for the Regional Education Laboratory (REL) Midwest, the REL Southwest, the Long Beach Network for School Improvement, and the Charles Butt Foundation. 

From 2014 to 2019, he was the state liaison and deputy director for the Texas Comprehensive Center (TXCC), where he led a variety of projects to help build the capacity of the state’s public education system through collaborative work with education service centers (ESCs), districts, institutions of higher education, statewide associations, school boards, vendors, and the greater public. In John’s 30 years in education, he has served as director of enrollment for a blended learning nonprofit, an associate director at a regional education service center in Texas, an education specialist at the Texas Education Agency, and an independent consultant. He is a Gallup -Certified Strengths Coach, an associate certified coach of the International Coaching Federation, a certified Levels of Use (LoU) interviewer for the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM). He holds an M.A. in history from Indiana University, Bloomington.