Elizabeth Foster

Elizabeth Foster is the Director of Strategic Initiatives for NCTAF.

Ms. Foster has been intimately involved in working to improve teaching and learning in all schools. Prior to joining NCTAF, she served as the Research and Policy Associate for several years at Recruiting New Teachers, where she monitored policy and program developments in the field of teacher recruitment and development. In addition, she was the project team leader for several published studies, including investigations of urban community college teacher preparation programs, urban teacher shortages, and building teacher-parent-student alliances.

At the Harvard RALLY Project, Ms. Foster administered developmental measures to students. She collected and analyzed quantitative and qualitative data about students and the middle school inclusion project; conducted focus groups with students, interviewed practitioners and teachers; and wrote integrated report and recommendations. Ms. Foster has also been an Inclusion Practitioner at two schools in Massachusetts, where she worked with 6th and 7th grade students. She has co-authored several articles and reports, including Tapping Potential: Community College Students and America's Teacher Recruitment Challenge; Connect for Success: Building a Teacher, Parent, Teen Partnership. A Toolkit for Teachers; The Urban Teacher Challenge: Demand and Supply in the Great City Schools; Development, Resilience, and School Success in Youth: The Prevention Practitioner and The Harvard RALLY Program. Ms. Foster received an Ed.M. from Harvard University and a BA from Trinity College in Hartford, CT.