Lisa Sullivan

Dr. Lisa Sullivan brings a range of skills and experience to her work in Teacher Education. She worked as a classroom teacher in East Los Angeles and in Northern California before obtaining her doctorate from UC Davis in Learning and Mind Sciences. Dr. Sullivan has worked extensively with both classroom teachers and higher education faculty to improve teaching and learning. To date, she has conducted over twenty program evaluations for K-12 and university based education initiatives. Dr. Sullivan has expertise in the area of special education, having worked on a national implementation grant to support general education teachers to implement best practices for students with autism. Dr. Sullivan has also taught both credential and Masters students at UC Davis, Sacramento State University and Loyola Marymount University. Her dissertation research examined the role of attention in learning and school readiness for preschool children. Her main area of interest is in working with educators to translate research into practice that will improve outcomes for all students. Dr. Sullivan is currently a full-time continuing lecturer and supervisor in the School of Education. She is also the team lead on the Supervisors of Teacher Education Network Team (STENT).

Education

Ph.D. in Learning and Mind Sciences, University of California, Davis, 2010

• Committee: Peter Mundy, Jamal Abedi, Ann Mastergeorge, and Kristin Lagattuta
• Dissertation: Joint Attention, Social Behavior, and School Readiness in Preschool Children

M.A. in Educational Psychology, University of California, Davis, 2006

B.A. in Psychology, Phi Beta Kappa, cum laude, University of California, Irvine, 1986

Teaching Experience

Lecturer, University of California, Davis, March 2013 – Present

• M.A. Courses:

  • Inquiry into Classroom Practice: Data Analysis and Research Reporting
• Credential Courses:

  • Student Teaching Seminar

  • Inquiry into Classroom Practice: Application of Teacher Research Approaches

  • Inquiry into Classroom Practice: The role of assessment

• Undergraduate Courses:

  • ​Introduction to Schools

  • Educating Students with Exceptionalities

  • Educational Psychology

• Supervisor: Multiple Subject Program, UC Davis, September 2022-June 2023

  • ​Observed student teachers in fieldwork placements and provided feedback

  • Guided student teachers to reflect on their practice and think about shifts and improvements they might make

Lecturer, California State University, Sacramento, September 2013-December 2019

• M.A. Courses:

  • ​Research Methods in Education
• Undergraduate Courses:
  • ​Educating Students with Exceptionalities

Lecturer, Loyola Marymount University, August 2015 – December 2015

• Credential Program Courses:

  • Evidence Based Practices in Special Education

Elementary School Teacher, Davis Joint Unified School District, 2004-2006

• K-8th Grade, Substitute Teacher

Elementary School Teacher, Woodland Joint Unified School District, 2003-2004

• K-4th Grade, Physical Education Teacher and Substitute Teacher

Elementary School Teacher, Los Angeles Unified School District, 1999-2003

• 1st and 2nd Grade,Classroom Teacher, Alessandro Cooperative Learning Magnet

Professional Experience

Associate Director, Teacher Education Program, University of California, Davis, 2016-2019

• Managed day to day program operations including budget, hiring instructors, establishing course schedules, communication with students, admissions, faculty meetings, program events, and community outreach.

Senior Evaluation Analyst, School of Education, University of California, Davis, 2012-2016

• Responsible for writing grant evaluation proposals including budgets, conducting site visits, writing grant evaluation reports, summarizing evaluation findings, and sharing findings with grant participants, recipients and funders.

Research Manager, National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders, University of California Davis, MIND Institute,
2009 – 2012

• Managed federally funded national grant. Responsible for organizing data collection efforts, managing data, designing and delivering professional development to K-12 teachers, administrators and families, creating online learning modules, disseminating and sharing results, and writing and preparing grant reports. Coordinated and collaborated with faculty from University of Wisconsin, Madison and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Publications (Partial List)

Sullivan, L., Ambrose, A., Ballinger, H., Forbes, C., Hilberg, S., Hood, A., Kim, J., Wilson, J., Young, E., Building Teacher Educator Community of Practice Spaces. In Butler, B., Cuenca, A., & Ritter, J. (Eds.) How Teacher Educators Learn: Profiles in Teacher Educator Professional Learning.

Barbu, S., McDonald, K., Brazil-Cruz, L., Sullivan, L., Bisson, L. (2022) Data-Driven Decision Making. In Bisson, L., Grindstaff, L., Brazil-Cruz, L., & Barbu, S. (Eds.), Uprooting Bias in the Academy (pp. 47-59). Springer.

Sullivan, L. & Mastrup, K. (2020). CTERIN Focus: Supervision across UC teacher education programs: How data from student teachers and supervisors can inform program improvement efforts. California Teacher Education Research & Improvement Network. https://cterin.ucop.edu/resources/publications/Focusvol1no4.html

Sullivan, L. & Mastrup, K. (2021) Building a community of supervisors for equity and justice. California Council on Teacher Education, Spring 2021 Research Monograph, 57-66.

Sullivan, L., Forbes, C., Harvey, V., Hilberg, S., Mastrup, K., Panish, V., Davis-Welch, J., Wilson, J., Hipolito, E., Kim, J. (2020). Supporting and Making Evident the Practices of Teacher Education Supervisors. California Council on Teacher Education, SPAN, 2020 Research Monograph.

Ohara, S., Pritchard, R., Pitta, D., Newton, R., Do, U. & Sullivan, L. (2016) Academic Language and Literacy in Every Setting (ALLIES+): Strengthening the STEM Learning Ecosystem. In A.W. Oliveira & M.H. Weinburgh (Eds.) Science Teacher Preparation in Content-Based Second Language Acquisition (pp. 165-178). New York, NY: Springer.

Sullivan, L., & Westover, T. (2015). Lessons learned from one model of teacher driven reform. JSD.

Sullivan, L., Mundy, P., Mastergeorge, A. (2015). Joint attention in preschool children: Is it a meaningful measure? International Journal of School and Cognitive Psychology.

Cox, A., Brock, M.E., Odom, S.L., Rogers, S.J., Sullivan, L., Tuchman-Ginsberg, L…., Collet Klingenberg, L. (2013), National Professional Development Center on ASD: An emerging national educational strategy. In P. Doehring (Ed.), Autism services across America: Road maps for improving state and national education, research and training programs, Baltimore, MD, Brookes Publishing.

Franzone, E., Kucharczyk, S., Sullivan, L., & Szidon, K. (2012). Facilitating the use of evidence based practices in classrooms: The national professional development center model for implementation. In Mundy, P. & Mastergeorge, A. (Eds), Autism for Educators, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Abedi, J., Kao, J.C., Leon, S., Mastergeorge, A., Sullivan, L., Herman, J., & Pope, R. (2010). Accessibility of segmented reading comprehension passages for students with disabilities. Applied Measurement in Education, 23 (2), 168-186.

Mundy, P., Sullivan, L., & Mastergeorge, A. (2009). A parallel and distributed-processing model of joint attention, social cognition and autism. Autism Research, 2(1), 2-21.

Abedi, K., Kao, J., Leon, J., Sullivan, L., Herman, J., Pope, R., Nambiar, V., & Mastergeorge, A. (2008). Exploring factors that affect accessibility of reading comprehension assessments for students with disabilities: A study of segmented text (Report No. 746), 80pp. Los Angeles: National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST).

Conference Presentations

Sullivan, L., & Hood, A., (2024). Equity Focused Supervision: Feedback from Supervisors. Poster presented at the California Council on Teacher Education Annual Conference, October 18, 2024.

Sullivan, L., Ambrose, A., (2022). Having the Courage to Advocate for Equity. Paper presented at the California Council on Teacher Education Annual Conference, October 21, 2022.

Sullivan, L., Ambrose, A., Kim, J., Wilson, J., & Young, E. (2021). Teacher Education Supervisor Priorities and Concerns: What does the data tell us about ongoing professional learning needs related to social justice, anti-racism and equity practices? Paper presented at the California Council on Teacher Education Annual Conference, October 21, 2021.

Sullivan, L., Kim, J., Young, E., & Wilson, J., (2021). Collaborating Across Teacher Education Programs: Building a Community of Supervisors for Equity and Justice. Paper presented at the Association of Teacher Educators Annual Conference (virtual), February 15, 2021.

Odom, S., Cox, A., Rogers, S., & Sullivan, L. (2011). Translation of Intervention Research to Practice: Identifying Evidence-Based Interventions and Supporting Their Implementation. Paper presented at the Annual International Meeting for Autism Research Conference. San Diego, CA.

Smith-Myles, B., Kucharzyk, S., & Sullivan, L. (2010). Using Coaching to Facilitate the use of Evidence-Based Practices. Paper presented at the Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence Conference. Columbus, OH.

Sullivan, L. (2010). Joint Attention: Interactions with Learning and School Readiness. Roundtable Paper Presented at the American Educational Research Association. Denver, CO.

Sullivan, L., Mastergeorge, A., & Schetter, P. (2008). Impact of Autism Intervention Instruction on Teacher Practice. Poster presented at the Annual International Meeting for Autism Research Conference. London, UK.

Sullivan, L., Mastergeorge, A., & Schetter, P. (2008). Impact of Autism Intervention Instruction on Teacher Practice. Roundtable paper presented at Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. New York, NY.

Sullivan, L., Abedi, J., Mastergeorge, A. (2007). Emerging Thematic Issues in Reading Comprehension Assessments for Students with Disabilities. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting for Special Education, Disabilities, and Developmental Risk, University of California, Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara, CA.

Invited Presentations

Sullivan, L. (2010). Evidence Based Research and Best Practice Applications for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Paper presented at the Annual Los Angeles County Autism Alliance Conference. Los Angeles, CA.

Sullivan, L. (2009). Evidence Based Practices and the National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorders. Presentation for the Annual Meeting of the Society for Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics (SDBP). Portland, OR.

Grants & Research

Principal Investigator: Supervisors of Teacher Education Network Team

• Funding Organization: California Teacher Education Research and Improvement Network (CTERIN) 2018 – 2023
• Award Amount: $101,125 over 4 years

Professional Service/Community Involvement

Supervisors of Teacher Education Network Team (STENT), Team Lead (2018 – Present): Associated Organization of the California Council on Teacher Education (CCTE)

Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), and Educational Rights Holder for Foster Youth, Yolo County (2021-current)

Accelerate Program Fellow, Center for Educational Effectiveness (July 2021)

UndocuAlly Training, University of California, Davis (September 2017)

Center for Research on Special Education, Disabilities and Developmental Risk (SPEDDR), University of California Student Representative, UC Davis (2008-2009)

Teacher Education Fellow, UC Davis, School of Education (2005-2006)

Faculty Search Committee for the Position of Endowed Chair in Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Education, Student Representative (2005-2007)