Aaron Butler

Principal TA Consultant

Aaron Butler, a principal technical assistance consultant at AIR, has nearly 20 years of experience supporting school improvement in public education through his work in rural, suburban, and urban districts as well as supporting multiple state departments of education. Dr. Butler serves as the deputy director and individualized technical assistance lead for the State Support Network, a technical assistance initiative of the U.S. Department of Education designed to support state and district school improvement efforts. In these roles he provides strategic direction, vision, and support to project teams, uses the existing personnel management system to coordinate with nationally recognized experts, and oversees approximately 40 intensive technical assistance activities and budgets per year. He has led multiple projects and coordinated with federally funded technical assistance centers including the Midwest Comprehensive Center, Center on Great Teachers and Leaders (GTL Center), and REL Midwest, which all provide direct support to Illinois and Iowa. Dr. Butler’s recent work also includes providing training for states and districts on the identification and selection of evidence-based practices and progress monitoring through the REL Southwest and REL Northeast and Islands.

Read Aaron's blog Three Ways to Improve Recruitment, Hiring, and Placement of Strong Turnaround Leaders >>

Dr. Butler has demonstrated his deep knowledge of school improvement and implementation science through project work at AIR that included district and school leadership development and coaching, performance management systems design, and as lead developer for the GTL Center’s Implementation Playbook for state and district equitable access plans. He has served as a national thought leader through multiple blog posts for the GTL Center on leadership issues, as a contributing author for Creating Safe, Equitable, Engaging Schools (2018) and Enduring Myths That Inhibit School Turnaround (2017), and through presentations at multiple national and regional conferences. Prior to joining AIR, Dr. Butler led a highly successful school turnaround effort as a school administrator and director of federal programs.

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Expertise
Education
District and School Improvement

Ph.D., Educational Leadership & Policy Studies, University of Missouri-St. Louis; M.S., Educational Administration, Southwest Baptist University; B.S., Secondary Education, University of Evansville

Contact Aaron Butler

+1.202.403.5000
Related Work
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Creating Safe, Equitable, Engaging Schools: A Comprehensive, Evidence-Based Approach to Supporting Students

01 Feb 2022
Safe and supportive school communities foster students’ social, emotional, and academic needs. Educators want actionable strategies and practices to ensure that all students can access equitable learning environments. Creating Safe, Equitable, Engaging Schools helps school leaders make sense of the various evidence-based resources and frameworks designed to support the whole ...

ESSA Action Guide | Using ESSA to Improve the Fairness of School Funding

05 Apr 2019
Studies have shown that education finance reform that addresses funding equity can improve educational—and life—outcomes, such as higher wages and a lower incidence of adult poverty. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) provides education leaders with an opportunity to evaluate the fairness of their funding practices. This action guide provides information ...
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The “Sink or Swim” Reality: Learning From Turnaround Principal Preparation

29 Jul 2014
With Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s announcement of the Excellent Educators for All initiative earlier this month, putting excellent principals at the helm of high-need schools remains critical. To better prepare the new principals, Aaron Butler contends in this blog post, state- and district-level leaders should make leadership development and coaching ...