H. Alix Gallagher

H. Alix Gallagher, Ph.D., a senior researcher in the Center for Education Policy at SRI International, focuses on teacher quality and policies designed to improve teachers’ knowledge, skills, and instructional practices. She has experience with quantitative and qualitative research including randomized trials, quasi-experimental designs, and mixed-methods program evaluations.

Gallagher is currently the co-principal investigator on two studies of teacher professional development. One is a cluster randomized trial of the National Writing Project’s SEED (Supporting Effective Educators Development) initiative, designed to support teachers in aligning writing instruction with Common Core State Standards. The other is an ongoing mixed-methods evaluation of the professional development provided by the California Subject Matter Projects. In a past project, Gallagher led a four-year randomized controlled trial of National Writing Project partnerships with middle schools.

In current research on educator performance pay, Gallagher is the principal investigator of the evaluation of aMAzing Educators, one of three Human Capital Management Initiatives SRI is studying in Massachusetts. She is also the project director for the National Evaluation of the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) program, a mixed-methods study of the implementation of the federal government’s performance pay initiative.

Across these projects, Gallagher’s work includes the development of quantitative instruments such as surveys and instructional logs to measure teacher instruction, program implementation, and educators’ perceptions of the programs and policies designed to support improvements in teacher quality. Gallagher leads mixed-methods analyses that integrate these data with qualitative data to provide a rich understanding of policy implementation. In randomized controlled trials, Gallagher combines the in-depth documentation of implementation with rigorous estimates of outcomes to determine not only the average effects of programs, but also the relationship of program implementation to effectiveness.

Before joining SRI, Gallagher worked for the Consortium for Policy Research in Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There, her work focused on school finance and innovative teacher evaluation and compensation systems.

Gallagher received her Ph.D. in educational administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before her work in education policy analysis, she taught for several years in the Houston Independent School District in Texas and in the Phoenix Elementary School District in Arizona.