Picture of Erin Chavez, academic program consultant, Office of Teaching and Learning. "I love working with kids. I worked with kids for many years as a teacher and then as I had opportunities to share and dive into professional learning, I wanted to share those experiences with other teachers."

Erin Chavez has been a part of the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) since 2016. She is an academic program consultant for the Office of Teaching and Learning’s Division of Program Standards, and the Mathematics Achievement Fund grant coordinator.

She has a degree in elementary education and reading and writing specialists and has more than 10 years of experience delivering professional learning for educators.

Prior to working at KDE, Chavez was a 3rd-grade teacher at Frankfort Independent.

“I love working with kids. I’ve worked with them 15-plus years as a teacher,” she said. “As I had opportunities to share and dive into professional learning [at KDE] and work with more mathematics, I wanted to share those experiences with teachers. When the position came open, I saw the impact that it had on teachers and wanted to be a part of that.”

Chavez’s work at KDE focuses on supporting educators in early numeracy with the Kentucky Academic Standards for Mathematics. She provides coaching in mathematics, helps create high-quality professional learning and resources for KyStandards.org and provides professional learning sessions on how to use those resources. and trains teachers in professional learning to help these coaches support schools to implement high-quality instructional resources in mathematics.

“It’s just amazing to see the work that these coaches are doing alongside with some national experts that we get to collaborate with,” said Chavez.

Working with both KDE and as a teacher has connected Chavez to many mentors and peers. She works closely with secondary math consultant and good friend Maggie Doyle, who Chavez describes as her “math soul sister.” She also collaborates with the Kentucky Center for Mathematics.

Chavez – along with the program academic consulting team, REL Appalachia and SRI International Education – are currently developing a coaching rubric that will be presented at the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics conference in October 2023.

Chavez resides in Frankfort with her husband, their three children and four dogs. She is an advocate for CrossFit and enjoys boxing with her family on the weekends.