Center for Research on Classrooms

The Center for Research on Classrooms (CRC) focuses on research in K-12 classrooms. The CRC originated as a call for informative research in the context of the polemics and politics of school reform. The past 50 years have included a series of national reform efforts, including A Nation at Risk (1983), The National Education Summit (1996), No Child Left Behind (2002), Race to the Top (2009), and the current Every Student Succeeds Act (2015); original CRC co-directors conducted research within each context.  One insight of these efforts: new policy directives suggest that the current administration and key personnel in the Department of Education view previous reforms as inadequate.  In hindsight, scholars in each era agree that school reform efforts have been recycled, partial if not complete failures, and typically set the stage for the next new “problem” of the public school. Adding to the national policy and school evaluation perspectives, popular media and even professional journals are replete with opinions about the quality of teachers, principals, and students and the "problem" of the public school.  While we are aware of the influence of each of these perspectives, particularly on "what counts" in which reform, the primary focus of the CRC remains on the more basic and practicable unit of schooling: the classroom. 

The U.S. tolerates a considerable economic bandwidth among its citizens and one result is marked variation in the resources available to families and the schools that serve them.  Thus, classrooms can differ in important ways, and one goal of CRC is to understand how classroom opportunities, practices, and processes do and can support the learning, motivation, and well being of teachers and students.  CRC is not driven by politics or any ideological orientation. Problematic and politically driven reform initiatives have emerged from both major political parties in the U.S. and at local, state, and federal levels. The primary goal of CRC is to pursue research activities that are problem-focused and policy papers that are driven by research evidence rather than assertion.

Participating Faculty and Students

Mary McCaslin, Professor, Educational Psychology

Jonathan Tullis, Assistant Professor, Educational Psychology

Heidi Burross, Professor of Practice, Educational Psychology

Elizabeth Pope, Associate Professor of Practice, Educational Psychology

Thomas L. Good, Professor Emeritus, Educational Psychology

Darrell Sabers, Professor Emeritus, Educational Psychology

Lauren Clough, Educational Psychology

Lauren Pierce, Educational Psychology

Taylor Roloff, Educational Psychology

Amanda Bozack, Ph.D., Educational Psychology. Director and Associate Professor, School of Teacher Education & Leadership, Radford University.

Elizabeth J. Frieberg, (now known as Elizabeth Pope) Ph.D., Educational Psychology. Associate Professor of Practice, University of Arizona.

Halley Frietas, Ph.D., Educational Psychology. Director of Assessment, Tucson Unified School District.

Saeideh Heshmati, Ph. D., Educational Psychology. Assistant Professor, Claremont Graduate University.

Zachary Hojnacki, Ph.D., Educational Psychology.  Head Coach, Boys & Girls Club of Northern Westchester, NY.

Angela Labistre, M. A., Educational Psychology. Doctoral student, University of Arizona.

Alyson Lavigne, Ph. D., Educational Psychology. Assistant Professor, Utah State University.

Chenye Liang, M. A., Educational Psychology.

Bernadette Mora, Ph.D., Educational Psychology.  Learning Experience Designer, Jacob's Institute for Innovation in Education, University of San Diego.

Amy Olson, Ph. D., Educational Psychology. Associate Professor, Duquesne University.

Valerie Sotardi, Ph. D., Educational Psychology.  Lecturer, University of Canterbury, New Zealand.

Natasha Sterzinger, Ph. D., Educational Psychology. Training Coordinator, Arizona Superior Court, Tucson AZ.

Ruby Vega, Ph.D., Educational Psychology. Assistant Professor, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Christine Calderon Vriesema, Ph.D., Educational Psychology. Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Carrie Wiley, Ph.D., Educational Psychology. Senior Research Scientist at Human Resources Research Organization.