As a Senior Project Director at WestEd, Susan Hayes supports education systems to create more equitable teaching and learning conditions and therefore outcomes for students with disabilities and their peers. Specifically, Hayes helps state education agencies critically assess and improve their special education policies and practices through her work with several federally funded technical assistance centers including the National Center for Systemic Improvement (NCSI) and the IDEA Data Center (IDC). Hayes works closely with state clients on a myriad of special education priority issues such as developing and implementing effective general supervision systems including state monitoring systems, ensuring inclusive assessment and accountability policies for students with disabilities, navigating IDEA data collection, quality, and reporting challenges, and promoting greater collaboration between general and special education.
Prior to joining WestEd, Hayes served as an assessment coordinator for the Vermont Agency of Education. In this role, Hayes was the lead researcher of the study, “Roots of Success: Effective Practices in Vermont Schools” which included a large-scale survey of teachers and school site visits to identify a set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices associated with student success. Before joining a state education agency, Hayes was a research associate for Education Week where she tracked and analyzed state and district education policies related to special education, teacher quality, and educational technology.
Hayes received bachelor’s degrees in education and history from Swarthmore College, an MS in leadership and policy studies from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education, and an EdD in education policy from the University of Vermont.