Lauren J. Cassidy

PRINCIPAL Researcher, SRI Education

With more than 20 years of experience as an education researcher, Lauren Cassidy leads mixed-methods studies of initiatives to improve college and career readiness, teaching quality, and school and district leadership capacity. Cassidy has expertise in qualitative data collection and analysis and in writing for diverse audiences. 

At SRI, Cassidy’s college and career readiness work focuses on efforts to help students historically underrepresented in postsecondary education transition to college and to improve alignment between high school career and technical education (CTE) programs and local workforce demand. She is project director for SRI’s evaluation of the Barr Foundation’s Engage New England Initiative, which supports the development of innovative programs to serve students who are off track to graduate from high school. Cassidy is also qualitative lead for a study of career development opportunities in Los Angeles Unified School District; this work is part of the national CTE Research Network 2.0, which aims to expand the number of rigorous CTE studies. Previously, Cassidy led the Statewide Evaluation of Career and Technical Education, which supported CTE program monitoring and improvement efforts in Texas. She was also deputy director of the evaluation of the Early College High School Initiative, funded by the Gates Foundation, which examined the impact of early college high schools on students’ postsecondary enrollment and persistence.  

Cassidy’s research on teaching quality focuses on supports for teachers at all stages of the profession. She was co-principal investigator of the evaluation of Digital Promise’s federal Education Innovation and Research (EIR) grant to implement iCoachTEAM, which supported math teachers in using technology for students’ conceptual understanding and formative assessment. Cassidy also led a study of New Leadership Relay, an initiative designed to build leadership capacity in New York City. She also has extensive experience studying early literacy and secondary writing instruction and is currently examining K–5 literacy instruction and professional learning in a network of districts funded by the Schusterman Family Philanthropies.  

Cassidy earned her MA in English, with a concentration in professional writing and editing, from George Mason University and her BS in communication studies and English from Northwestern University. 

Key projects

• Study of New Leadership Relay for New York City  
• Evaluation of the iCoachTEAM EIR Grant  
• Evaluation of the Engage New England Initiative  
• Study of the Urban District Literacy Collaborative  
• Evaluation of the New Teacher Center EIR Grant for Instructional Coaching
   

Selected publications

•  Doing high school differently: The student experience in Engage New England Schools
• Leveraging a decade of research: Designing instructional coaching for optimal learning
• Voices for change: Parent leadership and advocacy at Rocketship Public Schools
• Designing schools with and for Students: Lessons Learned from the Engage New England Initiative
• Study of the Engage New England Initiative Cross-Site Learning Brief 3: Improving Instructional Systems
• Impact of the New Teacher Center’s New Teacher Induction Model on Teachers and Students

Other publications

• Rethinking how we measure student progress to high school graduation
• Transforming high schools to serve students who are off track to graduate: Lessons learned from the Engage New England Initiative
• Designing schools with and for Students: Lessons Learned from the Engage New England Initiative
• Study of the Engage New England initiative cross-site learning brief 2: Learnings from the Cohort 1 launch year