Research Team
Nathan 
D. Jones, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Nathan Jones is an assistant professor of special education. In his research, Dr. Jones focuses on teacher quality, teacher development, and school improvement, with a specific emphasis on the use of measures of teacher effectiveness in evaluation systems. He previously worked as a middle school special education teacher in the Mississippi Delta.
Courtney B
ell, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Courtney A. Bell is a Senior Research Scientist in ETS’s Understanding Teaching Quality Initiative. Courtney’s research collaborations focus on the measurement of teaching and how measures of teaching are understood and used at the intersections of research, policy, and practice. Her current studies use mixed-methods to analyze the measurement of teaching and the validity of measures of teaching quality in various contexts. These measures include observations, artifacts, and on-demand technology-based performance measures. Guided by a desire to support the professionalization and improvement of teaching, Courtney continues to learn from practitioners through collaborative studies and her service on state and local technical advisory committees. Prior to her work at ETS, Courtney was a rowing coach, high school science teacher, and teacher educator. She completed her doctorate at Michigan State University in Curriculum, Teaching, and Educational Policy.
Mary Brownell, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Mary Brownell is a Professor of Special Education at the University of Florida and Director of the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR Center), an OSEP funded project designed to improve the preparation of teachers and leaders working with students with disabilities. Dr. Brownell has secured multiple grants (totaling over 42 million dollars) from the U.S. Department of Education (U.S. DOE), Office of Special Education Programs and Institute for Education Sciences to support research and technical assistance aimed at improving teaching quality for students with disabilities. Specifically, she has studied issues related to teacher education, teacher assessment, professional development, and teacher attrition. Dr. Brownell’s research efforts have culminated in numerous refereed publications, book chapters, books, and presentations.
Yi Qi, 
M.A.
Project Manager
Yi Qi is a senior research associate in ETS’s Student & Teacher Research Department. She joined the organization in 2008. Yi holds a Master’s degree from University of Missouri-Columbia, majored in Education Administration, as well as a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Instructional Design, Development & Evaluation from Syracuse University. Yi’s work centers around policy and evaluation issues related to teacher education and how best to measure teaching practice. She has worked on large scale studies on using classroom observation protocols, along with other measures to evaluate teaching quality.
Andrew Croft, M.Ed.
Research Assistant
Since 2008 Andrew has been working as a research assistant at ETS on issues surrounding teaching quality and licensure. His experiences have mainly revolved around measures of content knowledge for teaching and observations of classroom practices. Building on research in K-12 education, Andrew began his pursuit of a career in higher education by completing his master’s degree at Teachers College in 2011. He will continue his studies in a doctorate program at Boston College beginning Fall 2016. His interests are in academic affairs, particularly teaching and learning in higher education.
Ama
nda Redash, M.A.
Research Assistant
Amanda Redash is a doctoral student in special education at Boston University. Her research interests span a variety of topics within special education, including co-teaching, teacher evaluation, parent involvement, and school administration. She holds a master’s degree in applied developmental and educational psychology from Boston College and is a former elementary school special education teacher.
Me
lissa Fowler, M.A.
Research Assistant
Melissa Fowler is a Research Associate in the Student and Teacher Research Center at Educational Testing Service. Melissa’s current projects are centered around performance assessments for teacher licensure and the validity of formal evaluation models for special education teachers. Prior to joining ETS, Melissa worked as a consultant with school districts and non-profit organizations to encourage best practices, provide direct support in the instruction of students with overlapping neurological disorders, and negotiate communication and cooperation between school administration, teachers, and families. She has also worked as a Research Assistant at Rutgers University and the College of New Jersey, taught eighth grade English, taught courses at the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education, and co-founded the Tim Howard Leadership Academy for teens with neurological conditions. Melissa received her M.A. from The College of New Jersey in English Literature, her M.Ed. from Rutgers University in the Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education, and has additional graduate coursework in special education, cultural anthropology, gender studies, and education policy. Her research interests are in education equity, teacher quality, and how social identity impacts student learning.
Gary DeYoung, M.A.
Research Assistant
Gary DeYoung is a first year doctoral student in the Counseling Psychology Program at Boston University. Before entering the School of Education, he spent ten years teaching and serving in a number of administrative and managerial roles in rural Mississippi and Arkansas. After developing an interest in researching strategies to creating high-functioning work and learning environments for students and teachers alike, he returned to his native Massachusetts and earned an MA in Psychology in BU’s Psychological and Brain Sciences Department in the spring of 2016. Gary has developed a particular interest in researching strategies to construct learning environments that enhance empathy and prosocial behavior, especially in traditionally underserved schools.
Reem Al Ghanem, Ed.M.
Research Assistant
Reem Al Ghanem is a doctoral candidate in the Special Education program at Boston University. Reem’s research interests are in the areas of language acquisition, typical and atypical reading profiles in monolingual and bilingual children (particularly English and Arabic speakers), differentiating between reading difficulties related to second language acquisition and reading difficulties related to genuine reading disability, and reading intervention. Reem enjoys working with pre-service and in-service special education teachers on the best practices in special education in general, and in reading intervention in particular. As a part of her doctoral studies, Reem worked with Dr. Devin Kearns on investigating factors related to skilled polysyllabic word reading. She and Dr. Kearns believe that their work will contribute to the growing research on polysyllabic words and will help improve polysyllabic words instruction. Reem has published a literature review in Reading Research Quarterly that focuses on factors related to skilled word recognition in Arabic. And, she aspires to develop a line of research that addresses the gaps in the literature concerning reading disability in Arabic and reading intervention for Arabic speakers as well as validating reading intervention programs with English Language Learners. Currently, Reem is working with Dr. Stephanie Al Otaiba on translating and adapting the Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) program into Arabic. She is also working as a research assistant on a number of studies concerning the retention of special education teachers as it relates to their working conditions and proper evaluation of special education teachers.