Kara Jackson
Associate Professor of Education
Research Areas
Mathematics Education
Equitable Teaching Practice
Instructional Improvement
Scholar Snapshot
Professor Jackson’s work as a mathematics educator is principally concerned with understanding how to improve mathematics teaching and learning — especially in the middle-grades — in ways that support youth from historically underserved communities to participate substantially in and identify with academically rigorous mathematics. Her scholarship attends to both what is necessary in classroom teaching and how teachers can be supported in developing such forms of practice.
Her efforts to specify concrete forms of teaching practice that advance equity have most recently taken place through the Middle School Mathematics and the Institutional Setting of Teaching (MIST) project, in which Professor Jackson partnered with districts pursuing ambitious reform. In a related line of inquiry, she studies how to design and implement instructional improvement strategies orga- nized around a rigorous and equitable vision of instruction at the scale of large, urban districts.
Professor Jackson is co-author of the book “Systems for instructional improvement: Creating coher- ence from the classroom to the district office” and co-editor of the book “Numeracy as social practice: Global and local perspectives.” Her recent journal articles include “Teachers’ views of students’ math- ematical capabilities: Challenges and possibilities for ambitious reform” in Teachers College Record and “Examining relations between teachers’ diagnoses of sources of students’ difficulty in mathemat- ics and students’ opportunities to learn” in Elementary School Journal.
In Depth
Professor Jackson explains why using data for improvement — not just accountability — can improve what happens between students and teachers on a day- to-day basis.
education.uw.edu/jackson-edutalk
Contact
206-221-4794