Lynn Holdheide

Director
AIR
Lynn Holdheide

Lynn Holdheide, Director

Lynn Holdheide, Ed.M., is a senior advisor for the Center on Great Teacher and Leaders and the Professional Learning and Development for Teachers and Leaders Practice Hub Lead for AIR with more than ten years of experience in providing responsive technical assistance of the highest quality to SEAs, Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) and regional comprehensive centers. 

She also serves as the Director of Strategy and Operations to the Collaborating for Effective Educator Development, Accountability, and Reform (CEEDAR Center) supported by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs and led by the University of Florida.

Holdheide formerly served as the Director for the GTL Center. In this role, she co-developed Educator Shortages in Special Education: A Toolkit for Developing Local Strategies, which is organized around the guiding principle that short-term strategies to meet immediate demand must be intentionally paired with long-term, systemic strategies to attract, prepare, and retain effective special education teachers to create comprehensive shortage solutions. Holdheide provides technical assistance, analysis, and product development for states and regional comprehensive centers (RCCs) related to efforts to support teacher preparation, quality, effectiveness, and equitable distribution and has spearheaded efforts to address the pressing challenges in evaluating teachers of students with special needs and served as a reviewer of the U.S. Department of Education’s ESEA Flexibility Waiver applications in 2012 and the Every Student Succeed Act state plans in 2017.

Holdheide is a veteran in providing technical assistance through in-depth, face-to-face collaboration, as well as through online platforms and the development of customized resources that are directly responsive to state needs. With experience as a special education teacher and project coordinator and education consultant for nine years at the Indiana Department of Education, Division of Exceptional Learners, Holdheide is sensitive to the needs of teachers of students with disabilities and has a deep understanding of evidence-based practices for students with disabilities and the challenges that educators face in ensuring closing the achievement gap for students with disabilities. She is also well-positioned to advance coherence and alignment in instructional expectations across general and special education so that all teachers are prepared to support the learning of students with disabilities. Holdheide holds an undergraduate degree in special education from the Ohio State University and a master’s degree from Eastern Illinois University.

Lynn's Highlights

Long Story Short Video: How Can We Alleviate the Shortage of Special Education Teachers?

Teacher shortages is a severe problem in special education. In this video interview, Lynn Holdheide, AIR managing technical assistance consultant, discusses her work with the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform Center (CEEDAR) to address the shortage and support students with disabilities.