The Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness is pleased to announce the honorees of the 2021 SREE Early Career Award, which recognizes early career scholars whose work has advanced rigorous research relevant to educational practice: Matthew A. Kraft, Brown University and Dana McCoy, Harvard University. Kraft and McCoy were selected from a competitive pool of candidates.
Matthew Kraft received his Ed.D. in Quantitative Policy Analysis of Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and is an Associate Professor of Education & Economic at Brown University. His scholarship focuses on efforts to improve teacher and organizational effectiveness in K–12 public schools, and he has made a conscious effort to share his work beyond academic audiences. As summarized by his nominator:
Matt has become a leading national voice on education policy, particularly on issues related to K-12 teacher policy and on building capacity for the use of evidence to inform decisions making. Most notably, his research and public engagement has helped shape the national dialogue on how best to design and implement effective teacher evaluation systems. For example, his research has helped policymakers adopt a more nuanced understanding of “teacher quality” as multidimensional, dynamic (e.g., changing over time), and influenced by context. Beyond changing mindsets, he has been a leader in producing path breaking research that identifies how policymakers can best promote teacher improvement through coaching programs and building more supportive professional environments.