Education Resource Strategies is thrilled to announce that Tara Anderson has been promoted to the role of Partner. 

Tara will lead ERS’ Human Capital Practice Area, where she will focus on helping districts and states Reimagine the Teaching Job to give educators the support they need and to help address today’s turnover and retention challenges.  

“As a former elementary school teacher, I have first-hand experience with the difficult and isolating job of teaching in a high-needs school, ” said Anderson. “The work ERS does with districts and states to make the teaching job more attractive and sustainable would have made such a difference to me as a rookie teacher and to my students. There’s an enormous opportunity to build systems that attract, grow, and retain great educators—and I’m eager to help lead that charge” 

Since joining ERS in 2016, Tara has worked with district and state partners nationally to redesign school and system structures that better support teachers and improve student outcomes and experiences.  

She is currently working with school systems in Texas to create team-based teaching models that expand the reach of highly effective teachers, deeply support new educators, and ensure all students have access to high-quality instruction. She has also supported Alliance College-Ready Schools over the past year to design schedules that double the amount of planning and collaboration time that teachers have while also expanding student access to early post-secondary opportunities. Tara also leads ERS’ work to annually track teacher turnover in our partner districts. 

“Tara’s unique strength is her ability to conceive of, and deliver on, the ambitious-yet-achievable options for the district teams she serves,” said ERS President Jonathan Travers. “Plus, everybody loves working with Tara.” 

Prior to joining ERS, Tara taught elementary school in Richmond, California for five years. During that time, she served as a support coach for beginning teachers and a school director for a summer enrichment program for low-income middle school students. She holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management, where she was co-chair of the Yale Education Leadership Conference, and a B.A. in Economics from Bryn Mawr College. She is an alumna of Teach for America and Education Pioneers.