Meet Lauren Walsh

Lauren Walsh is a certified literacy specialist who develops educators' knowledge of effective literacy instruction at the local, national, and international level. She created Read.Inspire.Learn to customize professional development in all aspects of literacy instruction. Keeping FUNemic Awareness at the heart of her work, she’s gained extensive experience consulting for Heggerty Phonemic Awareness.

Lauren’s journey as an educator began at Franklin Elementary School in Santa Monica, California, where she worked as a kindergarten, 2nd grade and 3rd grade teacher. A pivotal moment in her teaching career was the transition she made to serve as a literacy and language coach at Webster Elementary in Malibu. The move back to her hometown came with the desire to serve as an intervention specialist at Willow Elementary School, where her oldest daughter was beginning Transitional Kindergarten. Lauren later worked as a district literacy and language coach for the Las Virgenes Unified School District, aligning programs and practices for instruction and assessment. Beginning in March of 2020, “Mrs. Walsh” literally became a household name in the LVUSD community to many who remember watching her virtual lessons during distance learning. 

Lauren’s interest in continuous learning led her to become certified as a literacy specialist through USC’s Reading and Literacy Added Authorization program, where she was later asked to teach the Foundations of Reading Instruction course as an adjunct assistant professor. With a mission to further develop her expertise, she facilitated AIM Institute’s Pathways to Proficient Reading and became certified through the Center for Effective Reading Instruction. Lauren takes pride in having served on California Department of Education’s State Literacy Team where she developed professional development resources to be shared statewide. She also holds her preliminary administrative services credential which she received through Las Virgenes Center EdX. 

Lauren is also a certified dance fitness instructor and has a passion to engage her “students” (both children and adults) through performance and movement, blending her passion for dance and education in ways that resonate with all.