![[Person photo]](https://www.lrdc.pitt.edu/people/images/russell_j.jpg)
Office: 808 LRDC
Phone: (412) 624-7489
Jennifer Lin Russell
Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh School of Education
Research Scientist, Learning Research & Development Center
Research Interests
Jennifer Lin Russell is an associate professor of Learning Sciences and Policy in the School of Education and a research scientist at the Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) at the University of Pittsburgh. She is also a fellow with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Her research examines policy and other educational improvement initiatives through an organizational perspective, and seeks to reshape the relationship between educational research and practice in order to accelerate improvement in the field. Her recent work examines two primary issues: (1) how schools create social and organizational structures that support reform; and (2) how inter-organizational collaborations can be structured for educational improvement. In the first strand she examines how teachers’ social networks influence their implementation of ambitious mathematics teaching practices, as well as how secondary schools organize to support the inclusion of students with special needs. Her second strand of research examines how organizations can productively collaborate to pursue educational improvement. Since 2014, she has worked with the Tennessee Department of Education, the Institute for Learning and a team of researchers at LRDC to test and refine a model for instructional coaching that can support mathematics teaching improvement throughout the state of Tennessee. Additionally, she is examining how networked improvement communities launch and develop to support efforts to address complex practical problems. For example she is tracking the development of the Tennessee Early Literacy Network and the Better Math Teaching Network. Her research has been funded by the Spencer Foundation, the Institute of Education Sciences, the National Science Foundation, and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation. Prior to pursuing a research career, Russell was a special education teacher in Oakland, CA and Williamson County, TN.
Childs, J. & Russell, J. L. (2017). Turning around low-achieving schools: Building state capacity to support improvement through Race to the Top. Urban Education, 52(2).
Bray, L. E., & Russell, J. L. (2018). The dynamic interaction between institutional pressures and activity: An examination of the implementation of IEPs in secondary inclusive settings. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.
Akiva, T., Russell, J., Hecht, M., & Crowley, K. (2018). Leadership in out-of-school learning: The educational doctorate program at the University of Pittsburgh. International Journal for Research on Extended Education.
Briggs, J., Russell, J. L., & Wanless, S. B. (2018). Kindergarten teacher buy-in for standards-based reforms: A dynamic interplay between professional identity and perceptions of control. Early Education and Development, 29(1), 125-142.
Correnti, R., Thomas, A., Baeksan, Y., Russell, J., Booker, L., Schwartz, N., & Stein, M. K. (2017). Prospective Matching Methods in Education Research: Recruiting an Active Comparison Sample for Causal Inference, Proceedings of the SREE 2017 Conference.
Russell, J. L., Kehoe, S., & Crowley, K. (2017). Linking in and out-of-school learning. In K. Peppler (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Out-of-School Learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Russell, J. L., Bryk, A. S., Dolle, J., Gomez, L. M., LeMahieu, P. & Grunow, A. (2017). A framework for initiation of Networked Improvement Communities. Teachers College Record, 119(7).
Bickel, D. Bill, V., Matsumura, L., Petrosky, A., Russell, J., Schantz, F. & Zook-Howell, D. (2017). Content-focused coaching for continuous improvement in literacy and mathematics. Pittsburgh, PA: Institute for Learning, University of Pittsburgh.
Stein, M. K., Correnti, R., Moore, D., Russell, J. L., Kelly, K. (2017). Using theory and measurement to sharpen conceptualizations of mathematics teaching in the Common Core era. AERA Open, 3(1).
Bill, V., Booker, L., Correnti, R., Russell, J., Schwartz, N., & Stein, M.K. (2017). Tennessee scales up improved math instruction through coaching. The Journal of the National Association of State Boards of Education, 17(2), 22-27.
Russell, J. L., Kehoe, S., & Crowley, K. (2017). Linking in and out-of-school learning. In K. Peppler (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Out-of-School Learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Bray, L. E., & Russell, J. L. (2016). Going off script: Structure and agency in individualized education program meetings. American Journal of Education, 122(3).
Gomez, L. M., Russell, J. L., Bryk, A. S., LeMahieu, P. G., & Mejia, E. (2016). The right network for the right problem. Phi Delta Kappan, 98(3), 8-15.
Russell, J. L., Meredith, J., Childs, J., Stein, M. K., & Prine, D. W. (2015). Designing inter-organizational networks to implement education reform: An analysis of state Race to the Top applications. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 37(1), 92-112.
Hannan, M., Russell, J. L., Takahashi, S. & Park, S. (2015). Improving feedback and support for beginning teachers: The case of the Building a Teaching Effectiveness Network. Invited to submit to a special issue of Journal of Teacher Education, 66(5), 494-508.
Russell, J. L., Meredith, J., Childs, J., Stein, M. K., & Prine, D. W. (2015). Implementing education policy through organizational networks: An analysis of state Race to the Top applications. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 37(1), 92-112.
Russell, J. L., & Sabina, L. (2014). Planning for principal succession: A conceptual framework for research and practice. Journal of School Leadership, 24, 599-639.
Russell, J. L., & Bray, L. E. (2013). Crafting Coherence from Complex Policy Messages: Educators’ Perceptions of Special Education and Standards-Based Accountability Policies. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 21(5).
Russell, J. L., Jackson, K., Krumm, A., & Frank, K. (2013). Theories and Methodologies for Design-Based Implementation Research: Examples from Four Cases. In B. J. Fishman, W. R. Penuel, A. R. Allen, & B. H. Cheng (Eds.), Design Based Implementation Research. National Society for the Study of Education Yearbook(2).
Russell, J. L., Knutson, K., & Crowley, K. (2013). Collaborations bridging the formal-informal divide in an urban educational ecology. Journal of Educational Change, 14, 259-281. [Lead article]
Russell, J., Knutson, K., & Crowley, K. (2013). Informal Learning Organizations as Part of an Educational Ecology: Lessons from Collaboration Across the Formal/Informal Divide. Journal of Educational Change, 14(3), 259-281.
Dolle, J. R., Gomez, L. M., Russell, J. L., & Bryk, A. S. (2013). More than a Network: Building Communities for Educational Improvement. In B. J. Fishman, W. R. Penuel, A. R. Allen, & B. H. Cheng (Eds.), Design Based Implementation Research. National Society for the Study of Education Yearbook, 112(2).
Coburn, C.E., Russell, J., Kaufman, K., & Stein, M.K. (2012). Supporting sustainability: Teachers’ advice networks and ambitious instructional reform. American Journal of Education, 119(1), 137-182.
Knutson, K., Crowley, K., Russell, J. L., & Steiner, M. A. (2011). Approaching art education as an ecology: Exploring the role of museums. Studies in Art Education, 52(4), 326-338.
Stein, M. K., Russell, J. L., & Smith, M. (2011). The role of tools in bridging research and practice in an instructional improvement effort. In W. F. Tate, K. King, & C. R. Anderson (Eds.), Disrupting Tradition: Research and Practice Pathways in Mathematics Education. Reston, VA: NCTM.
The Tennessee coaching project led by LRDC's Jennifer Russell and the IFL's Victoria Bill is the subject of EdWeek's "Want to Improve Math Teaching? Try Coaching the Coaches."
June 15, 2018
The James S. McDonnell Foundation has awarded a five-year, $2.5 million grant to Principal Investigator Mary Kay Stein, LRDC Associate Director for Educational Research and Practice, and Co-Investigators Chris Schunn, Lindsay Clare Matsumura, Jennifer Russell, and Richard Correnti for their research, entitled "Teacher Learning to Enact Productive Discussions in Mathematics and Literacy."
December 15, 2017
LRDC Research Scientist, Education, Jennifer Russell and her co-authors’ publication “Tennessee scales up improved math instruction through coaching” was featured in a National Association of State Boards of Education press release that accompanied the special issue “Aligning a Standards-based System.”
May 1, 2017
LRDC Research Scientist and School of Education Associate Professor, Jennifer Lin Russell, has been named to the National Advisory Board of the National Education Researcher Database (NERD).
March 1, 2017
Richard Correnti, LRDC Research Scientist and Associate Professor, School of Education, and co-Principal Investigators Mary Kay Stein, Associate Director for Educational Research and Practice, and Jennifer Russell, LRDC Research Scientist and Associate Professor, School of Education were awarded a 2017 Spencer Foundation grant for “Improvement of Mathematics Teaching At-Scale.”
2017
LRDC Research Scientist and Associate Professor, Education, Jennifer Lin Russell and her colleagues have been awarded a grant from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation for an "Evaluation of the Better Math Teaching Network." Jenn and her team will conduct a developmental evaluation of the network improvement community model, on which The Better Math Teaching network was designed.
December 2016
Jennifer Lin Russell has begun authoring a series of blog posts that appear on the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching website.
January 2016
Jennifer Lin Russell has been asked to be a member of the faculty for the First Annual Design-Based Implementation Research Workshop at the University of Colorado Boulder.
January 2015
Jennifer Lin Russell has been named a Fellow by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
October 2014
The Pittsburgh Business Times reported on Jennifer Russell and co-investigators Mary Kay Stein, Victoria Bill, Richard Correnti and Lindsay Clare Matsumura and Tennessee Department of Education co-investigators Emily Barton and Nate Schwartz. “Coaching to Improve Common Core Aligned Mathematics Instruction in Tennessee” was awarded a Continuous Improvement Research in Education Grant from the Institute for Education Sciences (IES).
July 2014
Congratulations to Jennifer Russell and co-investigators Mary Kay Stein, Victoria Bill, Richard Correnti and Lindsay Clare Matsumura and my co-investigators at the Tennessee Department of Education co-investigators Emily Barton and Nate Schwartz. “Coaching to Improve Common Core Aligned Mathematics Instruction in Tennessee” was awarded a Continuous Improvement Research in Education Grant from the Institute for Education Sciences (IES).
July 2014
Extra Mile Award Council of Graduate Students in Education
2014
University of Pittsburgh
Outstanding Reviewer for Educational Researcher American Educational Research Association
June 2014
Mary Kay Stein, Rip Correnti, Jen Russell and colleagues, awarded grants to work with Tennessee educators implementing the Common Core Standards
October 7, 2013
The University of Pittsburgh
Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence
2013
School of Education, University of Pittsburgh
Outstanding Reviewer for Educational Evaluation & Policy Analysis American Educational Research Association
2011
School of Education Faculty Research Award
2010
University of Pittsburgh
Outstanding Dissertation Award Graduate School of Education
2008
University of California, Berkeley
Spencer Dissertation Fellowship
2006-2007
The Spencer Foundation
Founders' Region Fellowship Soroptomist International
2006
Founders' Region