Haidee Williams

Haidee Williams is a Program Associate with SEDL's Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) program. Dr. Williams provides consultations, training, and technical assistance addressing educator quality as well as standards-based science instruction and assessment with SEDL's Texas Comprehensive Center and Southeast Comprehensive Center. She provides technical assistance to the state department of education staffs in these regions to meet the goals and purposes of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and other federal mandates. These efforts are part of the Comprehensive Center projects, which provides technical assistance and support to state departments to ensure an education system with the capacity and commitment to eliminate achievement gaps and enable all students to achieve at high levels.

Dr. Williams’s interests include science education, educator quality, change management, English language learners, and college and career readiness.

• Science Education: Dr. Williams has 31 years of experience in science education: 7 years working with state education agencies, 5 years working with school districts to improve science instruction and learning, 18 years teaching a variety of science courses in the secondary classroom, 3 years working with classes composed entirely of English language learners, and 9 years working with gifted and talented students.
• Educator Quality: Dr. Williams has worked closely with state education agencies over 4 years to identify and implement processes to continually improve educator quality in the state.
• Change Process: Dr. Williams has 13 years of experience working within or providing technical assistance to educational organizations. As a curriculum director, she worked at multiple levels of the school system to align instruction to state standards and to provide support through the development of aligned district and campus improvement plans. She continued this work in multiple districts as the technical assistance provider at the Region 13 Education Service Center in Texas and then in collaboration with the Texas Education Agency to manage the change process to improve schools throughout the state.
• English Language Learners: As a technical assistance provider, Dr. Williams has provided support to educators to improve high school programs, mathematics and science education, and education for preK–12 English language learners.
• Organizational Relations and Policy: For 6 years, Dr. Williams has worked with state and national education agencies to develop and implement educational policy and regulations. She provides technical assistance by regularly meeting with agency leaders. This work has focused on state and national challenges, research implications, strategies to implement policy and regulations, and training support. Her work in this area requires that she be a critical friend while maintaining positive relations to help education agencies improve learning opportunities for all students.

Prior to joining SEDL in July 2004, Dr. Williams worked for 5 years as a science specialist for the Texas Region 13 Education Service Center, where she managed the Title II cooperative and provided professional development addressing the needs of science education for grades preK–12. She also served as a curriculum coordinator for 2 years and as a classroom teacher for 21 years at Channelview Independent School District in Channelview, Texas.

Dr. Williams holds a BS in health and physical education from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas; an MS in science education and curriculum from the University of Houston; and a PhD in training and performance improvement from the School of Education at Capella University. She also has a mid-management certification from Texas Southern University and an English Language Learner Certification from the Region 13 Education Service Center in Austin, Texas.