Evidence-Informed Policy & Practice – shaping decisions with rigorous research and local context
Using Research to Drive Impact – translating evidence into actionable strategies for change
Building Research–Practice Partnerships & Knowledge Translation – connecting stakeholders to accelerate learning and application
Data-Driven Pathways Policy – aligning education and workforce systems through data systems and evidence
State Education Policy & Agency Structures – strengthening systems, processes, and organizational design for effectiveness
Strategy & Consulting – guiding vision, priorities, and execution
Research & Data Insights – turning evidence into action
Project Design & Facilitation – planning, convening, and delivering results
Policy & Systems Analysis – shaping decisions through data and evidence
Gates Foundation
The Education Trust
The Annenberg Institute at Brown University
University of Virginia Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning
Peabody College at Vanderbilt University
PIE Network
Conexion Americas
Data Quality Campaign
Syracuse City School District
Delaware Department of Education
Bringing deep expertise at the intersection of strategy, data, and policy
Erin O’Hara's career has been defined through work with education leaders, policymakers, and advocates to design systems that transform evidence into actionable insight. That perspective shapes the way Erin works with clients today — helping them align strategy, data, and policy to achieve lasting impact.
Erin has spent more than twenty years developing her expertise in state education policy from preschool through postsecondary. Erin currently serves on the Board of Education for Metro Nashville Public Schools. Most recently, Erin served as the founding Executive Director of the Tennessee Education Research Alliance, a nationally recognized research-practice partnership between Peabody College and the Tennessee Department of Education. Under Erin’s leadership TERA’s research helped to inform several state initiatives including school leadership networks, revisions to the state’s school improvement strategies, and prioritizing diversity in Tennessee’s workforce. Erin also led the Tennessee Educator Survey for more than ten years, ensuring that teachers’ voices are an important part of the policy conversation at the state and district level.
Prior to TERA, Erin created and led the division of Data and Research as an Assistant Commissioner at the Tennessee Department of Education. In that role, Erin managed the department’s innovative work in accountability, assessment, data quality, and research. She also led implementation of the state’s new accountability system under a waiver from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, worked on the development of Innovation Zones working with the lowest performing schools in four school districts, and designed a data and research structure that has continued to allow department and external leadership to uncover strategies with the greatest potential impact.
Erin served as a policy advisor to Governor Phil Bredesen, working as a lead on Tennessee’s winning Race to the Top application. She then transitioned to lead the initial implementation phase of the $501 million grant under Governor Bill Haslam. Erin also spent four years with the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, directing research and policy analysis for the state’s lottery scholarship program and leading early implementation and data analysis for the state’s first GEAR UP college access grant. Before moving to Tennessee, Erin supported the founding of the Afterschool Alliance and the National Network of Statewide Afterschool Networks.
Erin has a Master of Public Policy from Vanderbilt’s Peabody College of Education and a Bachelor of Arts in American government and African and African American studies from the University of Virginia. She lives in Nashville with her husband and two children.
erin@erinoharaconsulting.com