Debra H. Jones
Project Director
Debra Jones is a Project Director with SEDL's Research and Evaluation (R&E) program. Dr. Jones is providing leadership for a national randomized controlled trial (RCT) of Open Court Reading, a 4-year study of K–5 readers that is funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, and an evaluation of the Louisiana Striving Readers Project, a 4-year RCT of the Voyager Passport Reading Journeys curriculum for struggling adolescent readers that is funded by the U.S. Department of Education/Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Academic Improvement and Teacher Quality Programs. She also develops proposals to study the effectiveness of a range of programs, including reading and literacy from prekindergarten to adolescence and topics related to teacher quality and professional development.
Contact Information
You may contact Debra H. Jones at 512-391-6569
Dr. Jones’s research interests include the development and implementation of conceptual, methodological, and analytical strategies to conduct quantitative research, including experimental studies addressing reading, teacher quality and professional development, and other significant education issues.
- Research and Evaluation: Dr. Jones is experienced in developing research designs and analytical strategies to conduct quantitative research. She attended the 2008 Institute for Education Sciences Summer Research Training Institute on Cluster Randomized Trials (CRT), funded by the National Center for Education Statistics, which increased her capacity to develop cluster randomized trial designs and model specifications, and analyze and interpret intervention effects. She has contributed to the design of quasi-experimental studies to assess program effects, such as the impact of a teacher compensation reform policy using a regression discontinuity design. And she is experienced in developing research designs for proposals targeted to federal, state, and private funding sources.
- Reading and Literacy: In addition to providing leadership for RCTs of Open Court Reading and Voyager Passport Reading Journeys, Dr. Jones has provided technical and analytical assistance for RCTs of afterschool reading programs targeting elementary students.
Prior to returning in 2009, Dr. Jones worked for SEDL as a subcontractor providing technical and analytical assistance and as a program associate in a policy research unit. She has also worked as a research associate at the Charles A. Dana Center and the Center for Social Work Research at the University of Texas at Austin, where she conducted research on topics ranging from local welfare reform initiatives to school resource allocation, and as an assistant professor in the Department of Family Studies and Social Work at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Education
Dr. Jones holds a BA in psychology and a PhD in human development and family studies, both from the University of Texas at Austin. SEDL Publications
- Latest Evidence on the National Staff Development Council's Standards Assessment Inventory (2009)
- The National Partnership for Quality Afterschool Learning Randomized Controlled Trial Studies of Promising Afterschool Programs: Summary of Findings (2009)
- Implementing Randomized Controlled Trial Studies in Afterschool Settings: The State of the Field (2008)
- Key Issues and Strategies for Recruitment and Implementation in Large-Scale Randomized Controlled Trial Studies in Afterschool Settings (2008)
- Getting Smart About Teacher Pay: (Insights on Education Policy, Practice, and Research, Number 19) (2006)
- Teacher Resources and Student Achievement in High-Need Schools (2006)
- Investigation of Education Databases in Four States to Support Policy Research on Resource Allocation (2005)
- Vaden-Kiernan, M., & Jones, D. H. (2006). Efficacy trials of promising after school programs: Supporting experimental studies through a research consortium. The Evaluation Exchange, 12(1 & 2), 34.
- Jones, D. H., Alexander, C., Vaden-Kiernan, M., & Rudo, Z. (2006, April). Teacher resources in rural, high-poverty schools in Texas. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
- Alexander, C., Jones, D. H., Vaden-Kiernan, M., & Rudo, Z. (2006, April). Teacher resources and mathematics achievement in Texas schools. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
- Jones, D. H., Smith-Hansen, L., & Rudo, Z. (2005, April). Teacher salaries and student achievement in rural areas. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, Quebec.
- Jones, D. H., Pan, D., & Kahlert, R. (2004, April). Using state databases for research, policy, and practice on instructional resources and student performance. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.
- Smith-Hansen, L., Jones, D. H., Rudo, Z, & Pan, D. (2004, March). Using state data for research and policy regarding instructional resources and student performance. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Education Finance Association, Salt Lake City, UT.
- Jones, D. H., Pan, D., & Rudo, Z. H. (2004, February). Allocating resources in an education reform environment: Findings from 12 school districts. Paper presented at the Southwest Educational Research Association, Dallas, TX.
- Rudo, Z. H., Pan, D., Hughes, D. K., & Kahlert, R. (2003, September). School district resource allocation: Research findings and recommendations. Paper presented at the Texas Association of School Boards/Texas Association of School Associations, 43rd Annual Convention, Dallas, TX.
