Emily Thatcher

Emily Thatcher, M.A.Ed, is a research project manager for Accessible Teaching, Learning, and Assessment Systems (ATLAS) at the University of Kansas. Her responsibilities include leading, designing, and implementing federally funded interventions of teacher professional development and instruction with practice coaching and system support.

She recently led the Shared Writing Instructional Model (SWIM), Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) funded model demonstration project to test and validate a new approach to writing not traditionally used with students with intellectual disabilities and other students who are eligible for special education services in Iowa. Thatcher also supports ATLAS collaborative partnership with the National Center on Deaf Blindness and Karen Erickson, Director of the Center for Literacy and Disabilities Studies,  UNC Chapel Hill to pilot nationally, “The Key to Accessing the General Education Curriculum” for students who are deafblind and have extensive support needs. Thatcher serves as a subject matter expert for ATLAS project teams and as an internal consultant to meet the educational needs of students with disabilities. 

Prior to joining ATLAS, Thatcher served as the Iowa Department of Education specially designed instruction consultant, leading the OSEP State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG) in Literacy for Students with Significant Disabilities. Other assignments included the development, oversight, and implementation support for the The Dynamic Learning Maps® alternate assessment and the state of Iowa’s K-6 Early Literacy Alternate Assessment.