Carmen Araoz is an education researcher with more than 10 years of experience managing partnerships in K–12 and informal education settings. Through various roles at the Regional Educational Laboratory – Appalachia (REL AP), Araoz provides technical assistance, professional development, and coaching support to teachers, school districts, and state departments of education to build local capacity and improve academic outcomes for students in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Her responsibilities include developing technical assistance materials and resources for such projects as the REL AP Community Math Nights, which builds educators’ understanding of the importance of a positive math and growth mindset and helps them to plan and host local math night events.  As project manager for the REL AP Implementing High-Quality Performance Assessments in Science project, Araoz led the development of a participant workbook and provided coaching to educators from Arlington and Prince William County public schools in Virginia on using evidence-based strategies for performance assessment. Araoz also led a two-part training webinar sharing lessons learned from this coaching activity for educators across Virginia and nationwide.  Through the Cross State Partnership on Using Data and Evidence to Facilitate Action, Araoz provides technical assistance to educators in West Virginia implementing Handle with Care, a collaborative project between school, law enforcement. and emergency service providers to support students exposed to trauma.

Currently, Araoz oversees communication and data collection activities in her role as a site liaison for the evaluation of the University of California, Irvine Writing Project’s Pathway to Academic Success Project, which provides high-quality professional development to teachers of English learner students at 8 local Writing Project sites across the country.

In previous work at SRI, Araoz managed research operations for SunBay Digital Math, an Investing in Innovation validation project in Florida measuring the impact of a technology-based approach to middle school mathematics. Araoz also served as a workgroup coordinator for the Center for IDEA Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy), supporting technical assistance services to early intervention and early childhood special education state programs.

Before joining SRI, Araoz was a program manager for nonprofit youth development organizations, including Girls Inc. and the Girl Scouts, focusing on collaborative school-based program delivery models.

Araoz is pursuing a doctorate in public administration from Valdosta State University, emphasizing public-private partnerships and research-practitioner partnerships in education. She holds an MA in political science with minors in public policy and education studies from Purdue University.

Key projects

1. Regional Educational Laboratory Appalachia
2. Evaluation of the Pathway to Academic Success Project
3. Evaluation of the Apple and ConnectED Initiative
4. Center for IDEA Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy)
5. SunBay Digital Mathematics