Laura Heslop, M.A.

Ms. Heslop has over seven years of experience in education including as an educator and a state department of education program specialist. Ms. Heslop’s experience encompasses curriculum development, instruction, English language learners, science education, knowledge of three-dimensional science standards, focus group facilitation, and collaboration with education stakeholders at state and local levels.

As a Program Specialist at edCount, Ms. Heslop supports the planning and execution of deliverables for state assessment development and evaluation projects, the development of research instruments, the collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, and authors reports and presentations. She provides support for assessment alignment evaluations and cognitive lab studies.

Prior to her employment at edCount, Ms. Heslop served in the following roles:

• AP Biology, Biology, and Science Middle and High School Teacher for school districts in Kentucky, California, and Hawaii where she was responsible for providing differentiated science instruction based on individualized education needs and designing and implementing developmentally appropriate curriculum for English language learners. She also developed learning targets and curriculum aligned to three-dimensional science standards and collaborated with co-workers to implement social and emotional strategies in general education classrooms.
• Education Administration Program Consultant for the Kentucky Department of Education where she was responsible for providing consultative services and technical assistance to school districts, preparing and reviewing reports for data collection and federal reporting, and monitoring school districts for state and federal regulation compliance. During her time at the department of education, she developed a rural education cadre for school leaders.
• Policy and Research Intern at the Learning Policy Institute where she developed policy memos to communicate with stakeholders, coded and analyzed focus group data for innovative preparation programs, compiled community school model data for case studies, and researched and tracked state bill legislation for policy engagement.
• Assistant Director at the DOD Child Development Center where she facilitated staff trainings and meetings and developed and implemented parent engagement events and activities.

Ms. Heslop earned her B.S.Ed. in Biology Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and her M.A. in Education Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies from Stanford University.