For nearly three decades, Rebecca Perry has worked at the intersection of research, policy, and practice to support teachers’ learning and instructional improvement, with a strong focus on mathematics.
As a Senior Program Associate with WestEd’s Mathematics team, Perry contributes to research, evaluation, and technical assistance projects, focusing on County Office of Education and district communities of practice, math and science standards implementation, teacher preparation, and teacher professional development. Perry’s research, using both quantitative and qualitative methods, has included
- codesigning and implementing randomized controlled experiments,
- conducting site visits and reviewing video to assess implementation of policy and instructional ideas,
- measuring and conducting statistical analyses of teacher and student learning,
- field-testing materials with diverse groups of stakeholders, and
- identifying and coding instances of learning during classroom and teacher professional community discussions.
Prior to joining WestEd, Perry worked at the Mills College School of Education as co-Principal Investigator for the Lesson Study Group. She conducted research on the implementation and use of lesson study and mathematical content materials to support learning.
Perry’s research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Educational Researcher, Journal of Teacher Education, and Journal of Educational Change. She recently completed the Math in Common project which developed 23 evaluation reports and policy briefs over seven years, detailing school districts’ responses to math standards implementation.
Perry holds a BS in cognitive science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a PhD in education administration and policy analysis with a minor in organizational theory from Stanford University.