Senior Education Researcher, SRI Education
Paul Burkander, PhD, has more than 12 years of experience leading quantitative analyses and evidence reviews to inform policy and practice. He has extensive expertise in state-of-the-art causal and quasi-experimental methods, including Bayesian longitudinal analyses and machine learning methods, as well as in descriptive analyses, cost analyses, and systematic evidence reviews. His work spans evaluations of the effects of extreme weather on early and K–12 education and of programs in digital learning, postsecondary education, teacher quality and professional learning, workforce development, school reform, and student mental health.
At SRI, Burkander’s work includes a range of federally funded studies and technical assistance projects focused on improving education systems and outcomes. He currently leads Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Appalachia projects focused on technical support to predict district-level effects of SNAP and Medicaid work requirements on school meal funding, and on using administrative data to improve dual enrollment policies and practices. He previously directed the Uses of Federal Education Funds Study, leading validation of fiscal and personnel data from a nationally representative sample of districts. In addition, Burkander served as statistician for SRI’s ASCEND (Adaptive Security through Cognitive Exploitation for Defense) program, funded by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, for which he led analyses to predict cognitive vulnerabilities among hackers based on their cyber behaviors.
Burkander’s past research has addressed the following areas:
- School reform and district improvement, including evaluations of district-run and charter schools, school turnaround models in Philadelphia and Cleveland, and Full-Service Community Schools.
- Teacher quality and retention, including evaluations of the Teacher Incentive Fund, Alder Graduate School of Education’s residency-based teacher preparation model, and teacher mobility to inform retention polices in Palau.
- College and career pathways and workforce development, including the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse, Youth CareerConnect, and the Workforce Investment Act Gold Standard Evaluation.
Before joining SRI, Burkander worked at McREL International and Mathematica, where he led and contributed to evaluations for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the U.S. Departments of Education, Labor, and Health and Human Services, school districts, local foundations, and other partners.
Burkander has published in peer-reviewed journals and contributed to technical reports and presentations on topics including teacher incentives, workforce development, advanced placement policy, and postsecondary learning. He has co-authored evidence review standards for the Pathways to Work Evidence Clearinghouse and is a certified reviewer for What Works Clearinghouse group design, advanced group design, and single-case design standards, version 5.0.
Burkander received his PhD and MA in economics from Michigan State University, where he was an IES predoctoral fellow. He earned his BS in economics and mathematics, summa cum laude, from Eastern Michigan University.
Key Projects
- Regional Education Laboratory, Appalachia
- Postsecondary Teaching with Technology Collaborative
- Study of District and School Uses of Federal Education Funds
Recent publications
- The Impacts of Extreme Weather and the Implementation of Head Start Services
- Technology-Based Instructional Strategies Show Promise in Improving Self-Regulated Learning Skills at Broad-Access Postsecondary Institutions
- Study of Teacher Coaching Based on Classroom Videos: Impacts on Student Achievement and Teachers’ Practices Report*
Selected publications
- Do Educator Performance Incentives Help Students? Evidence from the Teacher Incentive Fund National Evaluation*
- Impacts of a Home Visiting Program Enhanced with Content on Healthy Birth Spacing*
- The Effects of Employment Counseling on Labor Market Outcomes for Adults and Dislocated Workers: Evidence from a Nationally Representative Experiment*
*Publications prior to joining SRI International
