Jessica Bailey

Jessica Bailey, a research scientist at EDC, co-leads the New York Partnership to Strengthen Personalized Learning for Equity. She has expertise in educational research, evaluation, assessment, advanced statistical methods, technical support, and strategic dissemination.

Bailey specializes in supporting leaders and teachers in understanding data and using study findings to improve student outcomes. She designs and leads applied research, including quasi-experiments, correlational and descriptive studies, and quantitative and qualitative evaluations. Her work focuses on teacher evaluation, teacher retention, personalized learning, and data use. Before joining EDC, Bailey was an assessment specialist for the Rhode Island Department of Education.

A highly experienced facilitator and communicator, Bailey is skilled in writing recommendations for policymakers and presenting research and evaluation results to practitioners. She is adept at convening diverse stakeholders to discuss local needs, identify challenges, and create collaborative research agendas.

Bailey holds a PhD in Education, Research, Measurement, and Evaluation from Boston College.

Email: jbailey@edc.org

Georgia Bock

Georgia Bock, a research associate at EDC, co-leads the Rhode Island Partnership to Support Early College Opportunities. She supports district and state leaders in using data and research to drive program implementation and improvement.

Through the REL Northeast & Islands, Bock has contributed to applied research studies on teacher preparation and employment outcomes, teacher mentoring programs, and chronic absenteeism. She also brings a wealth of experience in facilitating meetings and trainings with cross-organizational teams. Bock provided coaching to educators in New York and Connecticut on developing logic models and designing evaluation plans. As an extension of this work, she co-authored Evaluating Professional Learning: A Tool for Schools and Districts.

Bock holds an MSEd in Education Policy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Email: gbock@edc.org

Emily Braham

Emily Braham, a research associate at EDC, co-leads the Massachusetts Partnership to Support Student Learning through Math Intervention and the New Hampshire Partnership to Increase Early Learning Outcomes through Play.

Braham has a research background in child development and cognitive psychology, with an emphasis on early childhood math. Braham brings extensive experience conducting descriptive and experimental research studies, as well as designing surveys, interviews, and assessments to evaluate learning. She is also a certified reviewer for the What Works Clearinghouse.

Through REL Northeast & Islands, Braham has contributed to research studies on chronic absenteeism and provided technical assistance to advance districts’ continuous improvement efforts. She also works on a National Science Foundation collaborative research project developing educational science videos for bilingual learners. Before joining EDC, Braham led formative and summative evaluation studies on children’s learning at Boston Children’s Museum.

Braham holds a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh.

Email: ebraham@edc.org

Nicole Breslow

Nicole Breslow, a project director and technical assistance specialist at EDC, co-leads the New York Partnership to Strengthen Personalized Learning for Equity and Governing Board Liaison for REL Northeast & Islands.

Breslow leads technical assistance projects with district and state leaders that support systems change and strengthen the educator workforce. She brings expertise in talent management, strategic planning, program design and evaluation, learning design, and continuous quality improvement.

Previously, Breslow co-led the Professional Learning and Development Research Alliance, guiding districts to use data and evidence to strengthen the design, implementation, and scale up of professional learning initiatives. She also coached leaders in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont in using CQI to adopt and sustain student-centered approaches to learning.

Breslow holds an MEd in School Leadership from Harvard University and an MEd in Elementary Teaching from Hunter College.

Email: nbreslow@edc.org

Pamela Buffington

Pam Buffington, EDC’s Director of Rural STEM Initiatives, co-leads the Maine Partnership to Support Innovative and Equitable Educational Opportunities and leads the cross-REL STEM equity working group. A national expert in rural and mathematics education, she guides policymakers, education leaders, and teachers in improving K–12 student outcomes.

Buffington specializes in expanding access to high-quality STEM education, closing opportunity gaps in mathematics education, and bridging research and practice. She brings extensive experience in place-based learning, research, and distance learning networks to her leadership of EDC’s Rural and Ready STEM initiative. Buffington also co-leads a partnership with rural districts committed to integrating computer science into their K–8 curriculum. A leader in educational technology and mathematics, she has published numerous reports, tools, and briefs.

Buffington holds a PhD in Education from the Union Institute.

Email: pbuffington@edc.org

Meg Caven

Meg Caven, a senior research associate at EDC, co-leads the New Hampshire Partnership to Increase Early Learning Outcomes through Play. Caven examines the intersection of education, policy, and inequality. Drawing on mixed-methods and participatory inquiry, she advances knowledge of how policy reforms alter educational opportunity, practices, environments, and outcomes. She is particularly interested in leveraging research-practice partnerships to advance racial equity at the intersection of the educational, juvenile justice, and child welfare systems.

Caven has led several REL Northeast & Islands studies, including one on teacher turnover in early childhood education centers, and one on mentoring and retaining a diverse educator workforce. She also contributed to a study of chronic absenteeism. Outside the REL, she leads an evaluation of educational services provided to youth in juvenile justice custody across Massachusetts.

Caven holds a PhD in Sociology from Brown University.

Email: mcaven@edc.org

KATE COLEMAN

Kate Coleman, a senior curriculum associate at EDC, co-leads the Connecticut Partnership to Support Multilingual Learner Mathematics Outcomes. An experienced elementary mathematics educator, Coleman aims to make mathematics engaging and accessible for all children, with a particular focus on multilingual learners. Her expertise is in curriculum and assessment design, instructional coaching, and teacher professional development. Coleman’s current work focuses on the development of a toolkit grounded in evidenced-based practices to strengthen mathematics intervention, and the creation of integrated mathematics and computer programming curriculum modules focused on the core mathematics content for grades 2–5.

Email: kcoleman@edc.org

Sandra Espada-Santos

Sandra Espada-Santos co-leads the Puerto Rico Partnership to Engage Families in Data Use and the U.S. Virgin Islands Partnership to Strengthen the Early Childhood Workforce. She has been affiliated with the REL program since 2007.

Espada-Santos coordinates and supports the activities and services to both territories, including needs sensing, interacting and conducting meetings with state-level officials, policymakers, and members of education-related organizations, matching identifiable needs to actionable plans, supporting the implementation of established plans, evaluation of results, and development of plans to scaling and sustaining the efforts. She also supports REL researchers and other experts in conducting high quality research and technical assistance.

Espada-Santos has expertise in the areas of public policies in higher education; accreditation of postsecondary education institutions, management, and administration of state government entities; and governance of non-profit organizations. She is the principal of Sandra Espada-Santos (SES), Inc., a small business incorporated in Puerto Rico.

Email: saespada@gmail.com

Emily Fagan

Emily Fagan, a project director and expert in mathematics education at EDC, co-leads the Massachusetts Partnership to Support Student Learning through Math Intervention.

Fagan develops innovative and effective learning experiences for students and teachers. She has extensive expertise in instructional design, professional development, instructional coaching, and strategies to promote success for learners with difficulties and disabilities in mathematics. Her current work focuses on strengthening mathematics intervention through professional development and student activities that are grounded in research-based guiding principles. She also specializes in the use of formative assessment to support teachers in targeting mathematics lessons to meet students’ needs and strengths. She has produced an extensive body of work on this topic, including Bringing Math Students into the Formative Assessment Equation and Uncovering Student Thinking About Mathematics in the Common Core.

Fagan received an AB from Harvard in Economics with a concentration in Mathematics and is a certified mathematics and social studies teacher.

Email: efagan@edc.org

Joy Lorenzo Kennedy

Joy Lorenzo Kennedy, a senior research scientist at EDC, co-leads the U.S. Virgin Islands Partnership to Strengthen the Early Childhood Workforce.

Kennedy brings expertise in early language and literacy development, particularly among multilingual children from systemically underserved communities, as well as behavioral economics strategies to promote family engagement. She has almost 20 years of experience working to understand the mechanisms underlying program interventions and evaluating their effectiveness in improving child and caregiver trajectories. She designs and leads applied research, particularly quantitative and mixed methods evaluations.

Kennedy’s work relies on culturally relevant approaches to bring a strengths-based lens to bear on changing systemic barriers to educational access and attainment.

Kennedy holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology from New York University.

Email: jlkennedy@edc.org

Heather Lavigne

Heather Lavigne is deputy director of REL Northeast & Islands and a senior research scientist at EDC. She is responsible for supporting close collaboration across training, coaching, and technical support; research; and dissemination projects to ensure each partnership’s scope of work is coherent, impactful, achievable, and focused on improving student outcomes and advancing equity in education.

Lavigne joined REL Northeast & Islands in 2014 and has served as the applied research task lead. In addition to her strong leadership skills, she is a child development and research methodology expert and leads studies that explore how to enhance formal and informal PreK–12 learning. She brings expertise in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research using descriptive, experimental, and quasi-experimental methods. Drawing from this experience, she contributes to REL Northeast & Islands studies. She is also a certified reviewer for the What Works Clearinghouse.

Lavigne holds a PhD and MS in Developmental Psychology with a concentration in Quantitative Methodology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Email: Hlavigne@edc.org

Jill Marcus

Jill Marcus co-leads the Maine Partnership to Support Innovative and Equitable Educational Opportunities. As a training and technical assistance associate, she is an expert in performance assessment, continuous improvement, and teacher professional development.

Marcus worked as a teacher and administrator in Massachusetts public schools for more than a decade. She now works with state, district, and school personnel to implement new curricula, programs, and pedagogies. She is a co-creator of Creating and Using Performance Assessments: An Online Course for Practitioners, which provides educators with detailed information on how to create and use performance assessments in the classroom. She also assists with qualitative and quantitative data collection and evaluation of educational programs.

Marcus holds an MEd in Elementary Education from Boston University.

Email: jmarcus@edc.org

Johannah Nikula

Johannah Nikula, a senior project director at EDC, co-leads the Connecticut Partnership to Support Multilingual Learner Mathematics Outcomes. A mathematics education expert and widely published author, Nikula leads a body of research that is advancing knowledge of how to make engaging and rigorous mathematical learning experiences accessible to all learners. She leads quantitative and qualitative research projects and brings expertise in improving instruction for multilingual learners, teacher professional development (PD), and middle grades mathematics.

Nikula leads National Science Foundation and Institute of Education Sciences studies that test new strategies to enhance PD for mathematics teachers. Her innovative and effective PD helps teachers support students with varying degrees of proficiency in English and from diverse backgrounds.

Nikula holds a BA in psychology with a minor in mathematics from Middlebury College and an EdM from Harvard University Graduate School of Education with a Technology in Education focus.

Email: jnikula@edc.org

Julie Riordan

Julie Riordan, director of REL Northeast & Islands and principal research scientist at Education Development Center (EDC), is a highly experienced researcher and project director who leads large, complex, multi-million dollar applied educational research initiatives. Riordan has extensive expertise in the evaluation of education policy, organizational change in schools, and the use of evidence to guide decision-making to improve student outcomes. She facilitates systemic change in education through applied research and strategic engagement with policymakers and educators.

Riordan joined REL Northeast & Islands in 2010 and has served as deputy director and director of research. In addition to her strong relationships with policymakers and stakeholders, she brings an understanding of the nuances of state policy development and local implementation to her work. She has extensive experience engaging educators and policymakers to advance and achieve educational improvement, innovation, and systemic change goals.

Riordan received her PhD in education policy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Email: jriordan@edc.org

Sheila Rodriguez

Sheila Rodriguez co-leads the Puerto Rico Partnership to Engage Families in Data Use. A senior training and technical assistance (TA) associate at EDC, she provides TA and coaching to state education personnel, districts, and schools and is experienced in working with stakeholder groups and facilitating meetings and trainings. She also conducts evaluations and trainings focused in the areas of STEM and afterschool learning.

Rodriguez co-authored the Continuous Improvement in Education toolkit, which guides implementation of the continuous improvement (CI) process and delivered coaching sessions using the CI process for K–12 educators and leaders. She has also conducted evaluations and trainings focused on evaluation of after-school programming.

Rodriguez holds a MA in Educational Leadership from Argosy University–Schaumburg. She is fluent in English and Spanish.

Email: srodriguez@edc.org

Katherine Shields

Katherine Shields, a senior research scientist at EDC, co-leads the Rhode Island Partnership to Support Early College Opportunities and the Vermont Partnership to Strengthen Flexible Pathways for College and Career Success. Shields brings extensive expertise in quantitative and qualitative research, quasi-experimental design, psychometric analysis, multilevel modeling, and survey design, and is a certified WWC reviewer.

Previously, Shields led a research partnership with the New York State Education Department on graduation pathways and a quasi-experimental study of early college opportunities in Rhode Island. She leads IES and other federally funded studies of college and career readiness in areas that include career and technical education and high school STEM learning.

Shields holds a PhD in Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation from Boston College.

Email: kshields@edc.org