Jodie Lawrence

Research Associate, SRI Education

Jodie Lawrence (she/her) participates in a wide range of projects on K–12 education reform, including accessibility and equity in STEM education, technology innovation and integration as a support mechanism, and communicating and distributing relevant information in innovative and strategic approaches. She is skilled at project management and strategic communication, survey and interview design, and interpreting data to find evidence-based solutions, and she takes personal creative pleasure in planning, designing, and writing products that ultimately support state and local educators.

Lawrence serves as part of the dissemination strategy team for the Regional Educational Laboratory Appalachia (REL AP). In this role, she manages and coordinates the progress of various REL AP projects and communicates best practices and findings with external stakeholders via social media, web content, and newsletters. Additionally, Lawrence serves as a team member for other research projects, including a study on implementation of open educational practices and culturally relevant education in community colleges, a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)-funded accessibility study on new technology for blind/visually Impaired high school students learning chemistry, and an initial efficacy study of a continuous improvement framework in schools funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES).

Before coming to SRI, Lawrence served in the Office of Educational Technology (OET) at the U.S. Department of Education, working on projects related to digital literacy and innovation. She has also served as a policy fellow for After School Matters in Chicago, a policy fellow for the Leadership for Educational Equity, and a data fellow and researcher for the Colorado Department of Education. Her passion for education stemmed from her time as a 7th grade math teacher in St. Louis Public Schools where she served as athletic director, coding team coach, and a part of the STEM Teacher Leader Task Force. Lawrence holds an MPP from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, an MEd in middle school mathematics from the University of Missouri – St. Louis, and a BS in strategic and technical communication from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities.