Susan Therriault

American Institutes for Research (AIR)

About

Susan Bowles Therriault, Ed.D. is a managing director at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and leads the organization’s K-12 Systemic Improvement Portfolio of work. For over 20 years, she has led and conducted research that focuses on state and federal education efforts to build the capacity of high-needs districts and schools to improve outcomes and increase opportunity for students. As a researcher, Dr. Therriault emphasizes the design and implementation of research plans that answer critical policy research questions, in order to improve policy, implementation and outcomes.

Dr. Therriault is currently the principal investigator of the U.S. Department of Education Institute for Education Sciences funded Research on Education Strategies to Advance Recovery and Turnaround (RESTART) Network focusing on identifying and building evidence-based strategies that support students’ academic recovery since the onset of the pandemic. Additionally, she serves as co-principal investigator of the COVID-19 and Equity in Education project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, focusing on building a field of research on building community resilience and remaking systems that perpetuate racism in the face of pandemic-like events in communities serving Black, Latinx and students experiencing poverty. Dr. Therriault is the former director of several federally funded technical assistance centers, including the Region 1 Comprehensive Center, providing support to Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont and the federal College and Career Readiness and Success (CCRS) Center. Dr. Therriault leads a Northeast and Islands Regional Education Laboratory partnership with the Massachusetts state education agency conducting research on high leverage instructional and state level strategies for improving schools and student outcomes. And, she is an advisor on the Southwest Regional Education Laboratory focusing on school improvement and accountability.

In the past, she led several research projects focused on state systems of support for low-performing high school and early warning system implementation, as well as a national study focused on the implementation of Title I and an IES study focused on the implementation of School Improvement Grants. Dr. Therriault holds a master of education and a doctor of education in policy and leadership degrees from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is currently a member of the Massachusetts Conditions of Education Task Force. She served for six years as a member-at-large of the Massachusetts School and District Accountability and Support Advisory Board and for seven years on her local school board. Her work has been cited by NPR’s Marketplace, The Washington Post, and many others.

Associated IES Content

Program Information

2023 Program Information includes Agenda, Keynote Speakers and Session Materials
Grant

Extending the Reach of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Research Network—Research Network Lead 2.0

This team will serve as a network lead team for the Extending the Reach of Career and Technical Education (CTE) Research network. As lead, they will coordinate the work of IES-funded CTE research teams and support the development and dissemination of new CTE research knowledge. They will coordinate a learning community of its member research teams, conduct an evidence review of work-based learning (WBL), offer a research training institute with a focus on equity in CTE research, and bridge r...
Federal funding program:
Research Networks Focused on Critical Problems of Education Policy and Practice
Award number:
R305N230016
Grant

PreK–12 RESTART Network Lead (Research on Education Strategies to Advance Recovery and Turnaround)

The PreK-12 Recovery Network Lead will facilitate the convenings and cooperation of Network research teams studying PreK-12 pandemic recovery strategies, will conduct a scan and synthesis of recovery strategies, and will support the training of early career researchers across the network. As part of its leadership and dissemination efforts, the Lead will convene a national forum of stakeholders who will provide input and feedback to the network. In addition, the Lead will enact a multifacete...
Federal funding program:
Improving Pandemic Recovery Efforts in Education Agencies
Award number:
R305X220009
report Descriptive Study

Relationship between State Annual School Monitoring Indicators and Outcomes in Massachusetts Low-Performing Schools

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education supports low-performing schools through a process that draws on qualitative and quantitative data from monitoring visits. The data are used to produce ratings for 26 turnaround indicators in four turnaround practice areas relating to school leadership, instructional practices, student supports, and school climate. This study analyzed data on school indicator ratings collected during school years 2014/15-2018/19 from 91 low-per...
May 17, 2021
report Descriptive Study

Relationships between Schoolwide Instructional Observation Scores and Student Academic Achievement and Growth in Low-Performing Schools in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, like other state education agencies and school districts, recognizes that the quality of instruction is a key lever to turning around low-performing schools. As part of annual monitoring of state-designated low-performing schools, the department's external monitors observe instruction in low-performing schools using Teachstone's Classroom Assessment Scoring System. The external monitors rate low-performing schools on three in...
Aug 01, 2020
Blog

Using research to support a System of Great Schools strategy

A REL Southwest researcher adds her voice and perspective to our Southwest School Improvement Research Partnership blog series on supporting district and school improvement.
Date published:
Oct 15, 2018
report Descriptive Study

Puerto Rico school characteristics and student graduation: Implications for research and policy

The purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between Puerto Rico's high school characteristics and student graduation rates. The study examines graduation rates for all public high schools for students who started grade 10 in 2010/11 (in Puerto Rico high school begins in grade 10) and were expected to graduate at the end of the 2012/13 school year, which were the most recent graduation data available. Using data provided by the Puerto Rico Department of Education as well as publicl...
Apr 01, 2017

FY2015

Single-Session Panels
Grant

Boston Public Schools Expanded Learning Time Research Collaborative

This researcher-practitioner partnership systematically studied practices used during extended learning time (ELT), a school improvement strategy widely used in Boston Public Schools (BPS), in order to guide continuous improvement and refinement of the BPS ELT initiatives. Through a combination of School Improvement Grants (SIG), Investing in Innovation (i3) grants, and other grants, BPS implemented ELT in low-performing schools since 2006 and had 36 schools offering ELT in 2014-15. In BPS, ...
Federal funding program:
Partnerships and Collaborations Focused on Problems of Practice or Policy
Award number:
R305H150013

FY2014

FY2014 Single-Session Peer Review Panel
organization

American Institutes for Research (AIR)

Published works

Susan Bowles Therriault, Ed.D. is a managing director at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and leads the organization’s K-12 Systemic Improvement Portfolio of work. For over 20 years, she has led and conducted research that focuses on state and federal education efforts to build the capacity of high-needs districts and schools to improve outcomes and increase opportunity for students. As a researcher, Dr. Therriault emphasizes the design and implementation of research plans that answer critical policy research questions, in order to improve policy, implementation and outcomes.

Dr. Therriault is currently the principal investigator of the U.S. Department of Education Institute for Education Sciences funded Research on Education Strategies to Advance Recovery and Turnaround (RESTART) Network focusing on identifying and building evidence-based strategies that support students’ academic recovery since the onset of the pandemic. Additionally, she serves as co-principal investigator of the COVID-19 and Equity in Education project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, focusing on building a field of research on building community resilience and remaking systems that perpetuate racism in the face of pandemic-like events in communities serving Black, Latinx and students experiencing poverty. Dr. Therriault is the former director of several federally funded technical assistance centers, including the Region 1 Comprehensive Center, providing support to Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont and the federal College and Career Readiness and Success (CCRS) Center. Dr. Therriault leads a Northeast and Islands Regional Education Laboratory partnership with the Massachusetts state education agency conducting research on high leverage instructional and state level strategies for improving schools and student outcomes. And, she is an advisor on the Southwest Regional Education Laboratory focusing on school improvement and accountability.

In the past, she led several research projects focused on state systems of support for low-performing high school and early warning system implementation, as well as a national study focused on the implementation of Title I and an IES study focused on the implementation of School Improvement Grants. Dr. Therriault holds a master of education and a doctor of education in policy and leadership degrees from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is currently a member of the Massachusetts Conditions of Education Task Force. She served for six years as a member-at-large of the Massachusetts School and District Accountability and Support Advisory Board and for seven years on her local school board. Her work has been cited by NPR’s Marketplace, The Washington Post, and many others.