I am an objectives-first leader and believe strongly in elevating my team and building the skills of junior staff. Over the 17 projects I’ve been part of since 2021, I have served as a project director four times, interim project director once, and task lead seven times. On these projects, I created work breakdown structures, managed timelines and other staff, communicated with clients, oversaw and conducted project activities, and ensured the high quality of work and products. I have experience using tools such as Airtable, Smartheet, and Asana to support my project management work.

“While at AIR I participated in the PAL classroom project that was managed by Tara Zuber. I was part of her team conducting CLASS classroom observations virtually. Tara is an organized, responsive, and inclusive leader. She created a positive environment for the work group and we were able to complete the necessary observations in a very short turnaround period!” – Theresa (Terri) Speegle-Wilcox, TA Consultant/Certified CLASS Observer

This kind of evaluation involves careful conversations with clients to develop a complete logic model, define key program components and expectations for implementation, and determine thresholds for impact (e.g., what level of implementation is necessary to achieve desired results). The evaluation leads to a clearer and shared understanding of the program and its components, provides metrics to inform decisions about requirements for implementation, and helps answer the critical question of whether unexpected impacts are due to the program or how it was implemented.

Since 2022, I have led five implementation fidelity evaluations, four of which were for Education Innovation and Research grants. Conducting this analysis involves both qualitative and quantitative research and analysis in the forms of interview, focus groups, extant data analysis, document review, observations, and surveys.

Developing protocols and processes requires (1) understanding intent, (2) incorporating users’ and participants’ knowledge, experience, and needs, and (3) anticipating the next step. Understanding intent provides direction, ensuring that every element of the protocol has a defined purpose. Incorporating the users and participants ensures that everyone involved understands what is happening, leading to cleaner, more reliable data. Finally, anticipating the next step ensures that current actions bolster future ones.

The protocols I have experience developing include interviews and focus groups for children, teenagers, and adults, observations, and surveys. For processes, I have designed trainings for each of these protocols and methods for data collection, vetting and filtering resources, and developing resources. I have created surveys on paper and in Verint, Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, and forms (e.g., Microsoft Forms, Google Forms, Airtable forms).

“Perhaps the most significant contribution that Tara has made to our project is her leadership of a writing observational measure that can be used in treatment and control classrooms. Tara developed a user’s guide, training deck, and observational tool. Her expertise in CLASS and conducting classroom observations has been critical to our project and has ensured that we were able to share a high quality observational measure to the client for feedback.” – Elizabeth L. Adams, Ph.D, Senior Researcher at AIR

Tools guide people through complicated processes and empower them to interact with data, colleagues, and programs. The best tools match the needs, abilities, and interests of those who will use them. Often, developing tools requires leveraging content experts and aligning their expertise with clients’ or internal needs.

Tools I have created include an interactive readiness assessment that supported multiple school teams in Wyoming through program implementation, teacher and student microcredentials, templates for reports, success stories, and book reviews, flow charts, Michigan’s Alternatives to Suspensions and Expulsions online toolkit (previous version), and an interactive spreadsheet modeling teacher performance pay in Indiana.

Data analysis is all about understanding. First, it is understanding and identifying the patterns and themes within and across different data sets and types. Second, it is using those patterns and themes to help others understand their program or product more clearly. If the analysis is opaque, the analysis is not complete.

I have deep experience in conducting, analyzing, and communicating about interviews, focus groups, observations, surveys, literature reviews, cognitive interviews, and document reviews. The primary tools I’ve used for this analysis are Nvivo and spreadsheets.

When designing systems for games, I first ask what kind of experience I want players to have. Then, I review the game mechanics and ask how I can use those mechanics to create the desired experience. Good game design requires iterative design, playtesting, and anticipating multiple use cases so as to avoid breaking the game or accidentally incentivizing undesired behavior.

From 2015 to 2023, I have completed 21 freelance game design contracts for five companies: Onyx Path, Evil Hat, Magpie Games, Third Eye Games, and 7th Sea (now part of Chaosium). The full list of my work is here.