Meet the Tennessee Tiered Supports Center
Tennessee TSC services are offered through a collaboration between Vanderbilt University and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Each university has a team of education consultants who ensure that technical assistance is accessible to school districts across Tennessee. Meet our consultants in the sections below!
TN Technical Assistance Network
Tennessee Tiered Supports Center is a partner of the Tennessee Technical Assistance Network (TN-TAN). The network provides school districts, administrators, educators, and families access to high-quality training, resources, and support designed to improve outcomes for students with disabilities, ages 3-22.
Our impact
Vanderbilt University Team
Our team at Vanderbilt provides assistance to the following counties:
Montgomery, Robertson, Sumner, Macon, Clay, Pickett, Dickson, Cheatham, Davidson, Wilson, Trousdale, Smith, Jackson, Overton, Fentress, Hickman, Williamson, Rutherford, Cannon, De Kalb, Putnam, White, Cumberland, Lewis, Maury, Marshall, Bedford, Warren, Van Buren, Rhea, Lawrence, GIles, Lincoln, Moore, Coffee, Grundy, Franklin, Marion and Sequatchie, Lake, Obion, Weakley, Henry, Stewart, Dyer, Gibson, Carroll, Benton, Houston, Humphreys, Lauderdale, Crockett, Madison, Henderson, Decatur, Perry, Tipton, Haywood, Chester, Shelby, Fayette, Hardeman, McNairy, Hardin and Wayne.
Education Consultants
University of Tennessee Team
Our team at the University of Tennessee provides assistance to the following counties:
Scott, Campbell, Claiborne, Hancock, Hawkins, Sullivan, Johnson, Morgan, Anderson, Union, Grainger, Hamblen, Greene, Washington, Carter, Unicol, Roane, Anderson, Knox, Jefferson, Cocke, Loudon, Blount, Megis, McMinn, Monroe, Hamilton, Bradley and Polk.
Education Consultants
Content Development Team
Therese Sandomierski
Therese Sandomierski, PhD is a Senior Research Scholar in the Department of Special Education at Vanderbilt University. Therese received her doctorate degree in school psychology from the University of South Florida and worked previously as a technical assistance specialist with Florida’s Positive Behavioral Supports Project. Therese’s areas of expertise include system-level data-based decision making, implementation of multi-tiered positive behavioral interventions and supports, addressing disproportionate discipline and facilitating collaborative systems-level decision-making with families and students.
Kathy Jabir
Kathy Jabir, M.Ed., Kathy graduated from Nazareth College in Rochester, NY with a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Science. She earned her Master of Arts in Teaching from Rhode Island College and added an intervention specialist endorsement and reading specialist endorsement from the University of Dayton. During her 22 years of experience, Kathy has worked as an intervention specialist, reading specialist, reading coach and RTI coordinator. Her focus the last 5 years has been developing a response to intervention program for struggling learners with a focus on reading intervention. Her areas of interest include literacy instruction and reading intervention along with developing early intervention programs aligned with student needs.
Mary Myers
Mary Myers, Ed.S., is an Educational Consultant for the West Tennessee region of the Tennessee Tiered Support Services. She earned her Ed.S. from Walden University in reading, literacy, and assessment and her MS in instructional leadership from Arkansas State University. Mary is a 30-year retired Tennessee educator with experiences that range from the classroom to the district office. Additionally, she has worked several various contract positions with TNTP, United Way of West Tennessee, and Union University. With over three decades of educational experience, she is passionate about students’ needs being met and supporting classroom teachers to achieve that goal.
Anne Grooms
Anne Grooms, M.S., holds a Master’s in Instructional Leadership from Cumberland University and has a strong background in education. She has served as a Special Education Teacher, District Mentor, and Instructional Coach, with extensive experience in literacy instruction, data-driven decision-making, and professional development. Most recently, she supported teachers in maximizing student learning by strengthening Tier 1 instruction, facilitating Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), and ensuring the effective implementation of the RTIA² & RTIB² framework. Her work focused on building strong Tier 1 instruction in both academics and behavior, as well as implementing targeted instruction and differentiated instruction to meet the diverse needs of students.
Rachel E. Donegan
Rachel E. Donegan, PhD, is a Senior Research Scholar in the Department of Special Education at Vanderbilt University. Before earning her Ph.D., Rachel was a special education teacher and instructional coach for elementary and middle school special educators. Rachel’s areas of expertise include reading interventions, reading disabilities, tiered interventions and supports, and methods for intensifying and individualizing instruction.
Jennifer Higgs
Jennifer Higgs, M.S. received her Master’s degree in Administrative Leadership & Supervision in Education from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Prior to joining the Vanderbilt team, Jennifer taught Instructional Methods for Special Education at Lipscomb University and supervised resident teachers at both Lipscomb and Belmont University. She previously served as the Associate Director of Pupil Services for GBAPS managing student support programing.
Melissa Hine
Melissa Hine, M.Ed., NCC, received her Master’s degree in Professional Counseling from The University of Georgia and is a Nationally Certified Counselor. Previous to Vanderbilt, she worked as a Professional School Counselor for school districts in Georgia and Iowa and managed grant work at the UGA Disability Resource Center.
Kyle Kurlick
Kyle Kurlick works on multiple projects as a media specialist for the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. Prior to joining Vanderbilt, Kyle has spent the past decade telling the stories of Tennesseans across the state as a multimedia producer for various organizations.
Victoria Perry
Victoria Perry, Ed.S. has served as a public educator for 26 years. She has experience as being a classroom teacher, a school librarian, a consulting teacher, and an assistant principal of a middle school and high school. She earned her B.S. from University of Memphis and earned both her M.Ed. and Ed.S. from Union University. Prior to joining the project in 2018, while serving as a high school assistant principal, Victoria led the implementation of PBIS at her school with great success. Her professional interests include supporting schools and districts build a strong Tier I foundation as well as advanced tier implementation.
Tara Moore
Tara Moore, PhD, BCBA assumed many roles and responsibilities in rural and urban Tennessee public schools while working directly with students with learning, behavioral, and intellectual disabilities and their teachers. As a classroom teacher, she taught students with and without disabilities in special education and inclusive classrooms in elementary, middle, and high school settings. As a research liaison and school-based consultant, she provided training and on-going consultation to both special education and general education teachers who were implementing classroom-based interventions to prevent and reduce students’ problem behaviors. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and both a Master of Education degree and a PhD degree in special education from Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. Tara is certified as a behavior analyst by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Her research interests include classroom and behavior management and teacher-student interactions to prevent and reduce problem behavior.
Jessica Eshbaugh
Jessica Eshbaugh is The East TN Technical Assistance Director for Tennessee TSC. Jessica has ten years of experience in public education working in high-needs school settings where she taught English Language Arts and provided support, instructional coaching, and professional development to teachers as a TAP Master Teacher. Jessica has served as an educational consultant since 2015 when she came to UT, Knoxville to support East Tennessee districts and schools implement a state-wide tiered framework for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). Jessica is currently pursuing a PhD in Special Education and certification as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). While working towards her BCBA, Jessica has served as a behavior interventionist in a clinical setting for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (ID/DD). Her research interests include school-wide and classroom-based interventions to improve behavioral and academic outcomes for all students.
Michael Morrow
Michael Morrow is an educational consultant with the Tennessee TSC at the University of Tennessee. He taught special education in Knox County Schools, serving students with both low and high incidence disabilities, specifically focused on students with Autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and complex behavior and communication needs. Following years of service in the classroom, he served in the Knox County Schools as a district level special education facilitator, overseeing programming and working with teachers to improve outcomes for students with disabilities. Michael has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in special education from the University of Tennessee, and is currently pursuing a PhD in special education and certification as a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst at UT.
Jessica Ogburn
Jessica Ogburn is an educational consultant with the Tennessee TSC at the University of Tennessee. Jessica has over 20 years of experience working with children with behavioral disorders and implementing inclusionary practices to support children with disabilities in child care facilities and schools in East Tennessee. She enjoys providing technical assistance, trainings, and guidance to teachers in the education field. She graduated with a BA in human growth and learning with a focus in elementary education from Tusculum College and obtained a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from The University of Phoenix.
Casey Chauvin
Casey Chauvin, PhD, BCBA, is a Senior Research Scholar in the Department of Special Education at Vanderbilt University. She earned her doctorate in Special Education from Vanderbilt University and has worked as a behavior analyst in school, home, and clinical settings. Additionally, she has experience as a classroom teacher and educational research coordinator. As Co-Director of Tennessee TSC, she oversees operations and strategic planning for the center in addition to cross-partner collaborations within the Tennessee Technical Assistance Network.
Blair Lloyd
Blair Lloyd, PhD, BCBA-D, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education at Vanderbilt University. She is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D) and a member of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. In the Department of Special Education, Dr. Lloyd teaches graduate courses on Experimental Analysis of Behavior, Single Case Research Methodology, and special topics courses on Childhood Aggression and Intensive Interventions. Her current research focuses on intensive, individualized assessments and interventions for students with persistent challenging behavior.
Dia Davis
Dia Davis, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Scholar in the Department of Special Education at Vanderbilt University. Her doctorate is in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and she holds a master’s degree in Varying Exceptionalities. Dr. Davis has worked as a consultant on Tennessee Behavior Supports Project, Florida’s Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports Project, served as a District Coordinator for PBIS, a K-12 District Multi-Tiered System of Supports Facilitator, and a special education teacher. In her time as a local and state-based consultant, she has worked with over a hundred schools in designing prevention-focused systems and interventions at all three tiers for academics and behavior. Dia has a strong passion for systems change and implementation science as it relates to improving policies, systems, and practices to support all learners. She has worked over the past decade to help support putting research into practice and truly believes that the greatest impact comes from building relationships between all key collaborators.
Tara Axelroth
Tara earned a Master’s degree in Comprehensive Special Education from Vanderbilt University and is a board-certified behavior analyst. Before joining the TSC team, she was a special education teacher in Middle Tennessee. Tara served on her school’s leadership team to develop their school-wide positive behavioral support program. While teaching, her focus on providing behavior support to students and staff led to an interest in aligned tiered supports for both academics and behavior and an overall model for prevention.
Julie Daye
Julie Daye, Ph.D., NCSP, Julie earned her Ph.D. in School Psychology from the University of South Florida, Tampa and she is a nationally certified school psychologist. The focus of her research has been on implementing tiered systems approaches, with a concentration on facilitating this work in high schools. She has worked as a school psychologist in all age groups from kindergarten to twelfth grade. As an assistant professor in the school psychology program at West Texas A&M University, she taught multiple graduate-level courses, which included a school systems course and a program evaluation course. She believes it is important to provide preventative and early intervention services in academics and behavior, thereby changing the outcomes and trajectories of students.
Caroline Robinson
Caroline earned a Master’s degree in Learning and Design from Vanderbilt University. She has worked as an educator in Middle Tennessee and has extensive experience implementing RTI2-A+RTI2-B systems. Her interests include developing and sustaining preventative models for academics and behavior as well as utilizing targeted intervention strategies to address academic and behavioral skill gaps.