Lauren Barlis is the Director of Learning Management in Step Up For Students’ Office of Student Learning. Step Up For Students is a nonprofit scholarship funding organization that helps administer two scholarships for Florida schoolchildren: the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program (FTC) for low-income families and the Gardiner Scholarship (PLSA) for children with certain special needs. She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction and spent three years teaching high school English Language Arts and theatre courses.