As a Senior State Technical Assistance Specialist with WestEd’s Talent Development and Diversity team, Caitlin Beatson provides supports educators’ professional growth and provides technical assistance to promote equitable access to excellent educators in traditionally hard-to-staff schools.
An expert in educator human capital management and performance-based compensation systems, Beatson supports states and districts to plan and implement initiatives to recruit, support, retain, and reward effective teachers and leaders, including the Texas Teacher Incentive Allotment, Arkansas Teacher Career Continuum, and Maryland Teacher and Principal Evaluation System.
Beatson serves as Deputy Director of the federally funded Region 2 Comprehensive Center, supporting state education agencies (SEAs)—and their regional and local constituents—in Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island. She oversees and leads technical assistance to build SEA capacity to identify, implement, and sustain evidence-based practices for enhancing the quality of instruction, closing opportunity gaps, and improving educational outcomes for every student. She has also contributed to WestEd’s development of “Sound Basic Education for All: An Action Plan for North Carolina.”
Beatson began her career as a secondary English and Spanish teacher. Prior to joining WestEd, she held positions within the Indiana Department of Education supporting the development and implementation of educator quality initiatives. She oversaw the statewide implementation of teacher and principal evaluations, co-authored Indiana’s Plan to Ensure Equitable Access to Excellent Educators and the Supporting Excellent Educators section of the ESSA state plan, and administered state-level teacher performance-based compensation grants.
Beatson earned a BA in Spanish language and literature from Fordham University and an MEd in literacy, culture, and language education from Indiana University.