I conduct education research and evaluation on a variety of topics, including school network expansion, policies related to school and teacher quality, and education interventions intended to improve student outcomes. My focus is on helping school districts, charter management organizations, and nonprofit organizations improve the quality of educational opportunities. I also teach research methods at American University. Earlier in my career, I taught preschool and kindergarten in New York City.
PhD in Education Policy, 2014
University of Maryland
EdM in Education, 2001
Harvard Graduate School of Education
BA in Psychology & Sociology, 2000
Rutgers University
Jackson, C. 2019. When It Makes Sense to Experiment on Students — or “The Zone of RCTs”.
Jackson, C. 2019. Correlation is Not Causation and Other Boring but Important Cautions for Interpreting Education Research.
Jackson, C. 2019. Why Is There a Disconnect Between Research and Practice and What Can Be Done About It?.
Jackson, C. 2015. The Magic of Multiple Measures.
Jackson, C. 2015. Research on Teacher Evaluation Metrics: The Weaponization of Correlations.
I sometimes get asked for resources to support the use of research and evidence in education. These are few I’ve found useful:
Open SDP provides data, analyses and tutorials for every stage of the analytic cycle, from preparing and standardizing your data, to conducting analyses and producing visualizations.
The What Works Clearinghouse reviews the existing research on different programs, products, practices, and policies in education.
Urban Institute’s Education Data Explorer makes it easy to access and analyze education data from multiple datasets.
My regular reads include Brookings Institution’s Brown Center Chalkboard for blog posts from a variety of education researchers, Chalkbeat for great journalism on education issues, and EducationNext, which has podcasts as well as relatively brief summaries of research. For a parent and student perspective on education, check out the Let’s K-12 Better podcast.
Tarasawa, B., Gotwals, A.W., & Jackson, C., eds. (2020) Assessment Education: Bridging Research, Theory, and Practice to Promote Equity and Student Learning. Rowman & Littlefield.
Carinci, J., Meyer, S. & Jackson, C., eds. (2020) Linking Teacher Preparation Program Design and Implementation to Outcomes for Teachers and Students. IAP Book Series.
Wissinger, D. R., De La Paz, S., & Jackson, C. (2020, February 10). The Effects of Historical Reading and Writing Strategy Instruction With Fourth- Through Sixth-Grade Students. Journal of Educational Psychology. Advance online publication.