Jeanne Century

  • I am the founder of Outlier Research & Evaluation at the University of Chicago and was a Research Associate Professor there for nearly 20 years. I have retired from full-time work there and am now a Senior Research Fellow at the University’s Data Science Institute.

  • I spent the first 17 years of my career at Education Development Center (EDC) in Waltham MA.

  • For the last 35 years, I have successfully led grant and contract-funded projects and programs to improve education. With a career funded almost exclusively on soft money, my work has focused on advancing equity in education in great part through research-practice partnership arrangements in large and small urban school districts.

  • My primary personal research focus has been on understanding why change does and does not happen in education by measuring and supporting innovation implementation, spread and endurance. 

  • I am an advocate for component-based research and developing the infrastructure for answering complex questions in education such as what parts of an innovation work, for whom and under what conditions.

  • Over these last few decades, I have developed K-8 science instructional materials, supported professional learning efforts for teachers and principals and have provided technical assistance and strategic planning support for administrators at the school, district, and state levels. I have been the principal investigator of numerous federal and foundation grants focusing on a range of topics including inquiry science instruction, computer science education, STEM schools and sustainability of reform.

    I have also conducted numerous evaluations on, among other topics, out-of-school and in-school programs, district and state reform efforts, higher education, teacher preparation, and civic leadership. I have also had my share of policy work at the district, state and federal level. I was honored to serve on the Education Policy and Department of Education Agency Review transition teams for the first Obama-Biden administration where I was responsible for STEM education and education research. I have served on numerous committees and advisory boards for wide-ranging improvement efforts including NSF committee of visitors in 2023.

My Approach

  • I work closely with my collaborators to co-create plans and products customized for their needs.

  • I embrace the complexity of education change and use specific frameworks to bring order to the messiness of improvement.

  • I recognize the need to take long-term time horizons into account with an eye toward bringing about change that lasts.

My Commitments

  • I have spent over three decades working to improve education in underinvested areas and for students in groups that have historically been excluded from STEM and other fields.

  • I adopt my collaborator’ goals as my own. 

  • I believe that public education is the foundation of our democracy..

  • Policy creating

  • Funding

  • Reform planning

  • Managing

If your interest has to do with:

  • Improving

  • Evaluating

  • Publishing

  • Researching

  • Educating

  • Proposal writing

  • Imagining

  • Partnering

I can help you.

Ask me about:

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