Jennifer Pierce

Senior TA Consultant

Jennifer D. Pierce, Ph.D., is a senior technical assistant consultant at AIR. Her areas of expertise are instructional and systems coaching models, Implementation Science, and the use of Integrated Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (I-MTSS) across general and special education. She has prior successful experience working as a teacher, coach, building-level and district-level leader, and adjunct instructor at the university level. 

At AIR, Dr. Pierce leads several state-level coaching projects, the Coaching Cadre for the National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI), and serves as the implementation lead for IES-funded randomized control trials examining coaching. She also co-leads AIR's Coaching Community of Practice, a group dedicated to advancing AIR staff capacity in coaching. 

Dr. Pierce has authored peer-reviewed articles, numerous coaching tools and served as a founding member and co-lead for the Global Implementation Society Standards Committee. Most recently, she is the lead author of a book on coaching to improve teaching, learning, and educational systems.

Related Work
Two teachers talking at table.
2026-01-01

Strengthening Literacy Instructional Coaching in Connecticut

The Connecticut State Department of Education is partnering with the Northeast Comprehensive Center to examine and strengthen statewide literacy instructional coaching.
Researchers working together
2024-03-01

Integrated MTSS Fidelity Rubric (IMFR)

01 Mar 2024
The Integrated Multi-Tiered Systems of Support Fidelity Rubric (IMFR) is a tool to assess an elementary school’s implementation of Integrated Multi-tiered Systems of Support (I-MTSS). I-MTSS is a model where academic and social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) supports are strategically combined to improve student academic (e.g., reading and/or math) and ...
Image of mother and son playing with blocks
2020-06-30

Four Steps to Help Home Visitors Increase Use of Evidence-Based Practices

30 Jun 2020
Through home visiting, child development specialists, speech therapists, and other professionals work with families and their children in their homes to assess children’s development and health, as well as bolster parenting skills. Consistent, correct use of evidence-based practices by practitioners such as home visitors can help improve children’s outcomes. AIR ...
10 Steps to Make RTI Work in Schools - Cover
2017-04-17

Ten Steps to Make RTI Work in Schools

17 Apr 2017
After test scores on a state language arts assessment at P.S. 52 Sheepshead Bay School in Brooklyn were unsatisfactory, the school's principal searched for a way to improve academic outcomes for his students. Partnering with AIR, the school used response to intervention, a research-based framework that uses data-based decision-making and ...
Jennifer Pierce
Expertise
Education
Multi-Tiered System of Supports
Special Education

Ph.D., Special Education and B.A., English and Psychology, University of Washington; M.A.E., Teaching Certification, Pacific Lutheran University

+1.212.419.0415