SERP collaborators in their own words

“What’s amazing to me is that groups from around the country are holding engaging sessions in field sites. Practitioners are at the table – people from different universities, as well as teachers, coaches, and superintendents. In my 40-plus years in education, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Tom Payzant
Harvard University Lecturer, former Superintendent of Boston Public Schools, and former U.S. Assistant Secretary for K-12 Education

“Traditionally, researchers want to have their work published in scholarly, peer-reviewed publications. With SERP, that is mostly secondary. It is not our primary goal. In that sense, we are breaking the mold in terms of traditional research structures.”

Kenji Hakuta,
Professor of Education, Stanford University

“SERP – in giving full credibility and partnership to administrators and teachers – is really enriching the research experience and making it much more likely that the data that come out are not only theoretically relevant, but also practically relevant and important to what is going on in the classrooms at the moment.”

Andrew Elliott,
Professor of Psychology, University of Rochester

“We had a lot of information about how [Boston Public Schools] students were doing and where they were performing poorly, but we didn’t know why. We have lots, and lots, and lots of tests, but none that are truly diagnostic, especially after 5th grade. That’s where the SERP people jumped right in to develop and administer diagnostic tests. Our schools are extremely excited about this. And while the diagnostic tests were designed with the profile of Boston students in mind, SERP’s work is going to be useful to other school districts, too.”

Ellen Guiney, Executive Director, Boston Plan for Excellence

“SERP is an answer to a prayer. We have been in a network trying to get researchers to work with us for eight years. ... We know we need outside help. But we are not just interested in being researched and studied. We want the research to focus on what goes on in our schools, and SERP helps make that happen.”

Laura Cooper,
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, Evanston (Ill.) Township High School District

“SERP is really about connecting the dots between research, practice, and learning. I think there are some real lessons to be learned through the SERP model, and I'm excited about the work we're doing here [in Boston], but I look forward to seeing the results of this process being put in place in other districts.”

Carol Johnson,
Superintendent, Boston Public Schools

“We are getting a better handle on the nature of challenges facing schools by taking the time to get teachers, principals, and central office administrators to define the problems. In addition, our regular meetings are indispensable for turning up important topics that help us address long-term change.”

Catherine Snow,
Professor of Education, Harvard University

“SERP is the first project I know that really tries to bridge the research and practice communities and put on an equal footing the needs of the school district with the wishes and needs of researchers.”

Alan Schoenfeld,
Professor, Cognition and Development, UC Berkeley

“In the past, we have had researchers give us feedback. That was good, but the direct connection to how it impacts practice was not as evident as it is with the SERP work.”

Sonja Brookins Santelises,
Chief Academic Officer, Baltimore City Public Schools

“We are not working with someone who is telling us, 'This is what you need to do'. We are partnering with people who are asking us, 'What are your needs? How can we help you?'.”

Karling Aguilera-Fort,
Assistant Superintendent Academics & Professional Development - Learning Support and Equity, San Francisco USD