Lori J. Van Houten is the Director of Analytic Support for the Regional Educational Laboratory West (REL West). In this capacity, she collaborates with REL West staff to provide targeted technical assistance at the state, district, and school levels to ensure effective use of data and research findings to inform policy and practice.

In her first 10 years at WestEd, Van Houten worked with the Comprehensive School Assistance Program. She supported schools and districts in creating sustainable and systemic change that resulted in improved student outcomes. In partnership with her clients, Van Houten completed a needs assessment, helped develop a comprehensive action plan featuring research-based strategies, and continued to support clients as they developed capacity to use data and evidence to monitor implementation of their plan.

Van Houten has co-authored several WestEd publications that further data-driven decision-making in educational settings. These include Developing an Effective School Plan: An Activity-Based Guide to Understanding Your School and Improving Student Outcomes; Speak Out, Listen Up! Tools For Using Student Perspectives and Local Data for School Improvement; and the School Climate Improvement Toolkit.

Previously, Van Houten worked for over 30 years as a consultant, teacher, district employee, and researcher with schools and organizations serving students at risk of academic failure.

She received a BA in deaf education and elementary education from Michigan State University, and an MA and PhD in linguistics from Brown University.