Education Researcher, SRI Education
Sarah Dec is an education researcher with more than 10 years of experience working in education. Dec has led and contributed to research and technical assistance projects across a range of topics, including teaching quality, school and district reform, classroom instruction, data use for decision-making, continuous improvement, family engagement, and elementary learning. She has experience collecting and analyzing qualitative and quantitative data, conducting classroom observations, providing technical assistance and coaching to educators and staff, managing complex projects and building authentic relationships with clients, and disseminating information in actionable ways for practitioners.
At SRI, Dec currently serves as the deputy director and continuous improvement lead on a project connected to the Handle With Care (HWC) program in West Virginia, for which she builds educators’ capacity to implement data-based reflection and continuous improvement. On another project, Dec supports educators in using data to facilitate and improve the implementation of strategies to engage kinship caregivers and grandfamilies in schools. Additionally, Dec is part of a project team focused on studying the efforts of districts participating in the Urban District Literacy Collaborative to improve literacy outcomes for elementary students. As part this project, she co-leads a large team of observers to conduct classroom observations of literacy instruction in four urban districts, with a focus on sharing actionable findings and takeaways.
Previously, Dec served as the dissemination lead for the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Appalachia, one of 10 laboratories funded by the U.S. Department of Education to support educators and policymakers with the use of research and evidence to improve learner outcomes. In this role, she helped bring evidence-based practices and learnings from REL Appalachia projects to educators and families in service of supporting learning for all students. Under REL Appalachia, Dec was also a project co-lead for a regional community of practice focused on equipping educators with strategies and resources to support kinship caregivers and grandfamilies and the students in their care. Previously, she served as the REL Appalachia senior project manager—managing complex processes and liaising with local partners and federal government representatives. Dec also has experience with charter school projects, including conducting evaluations of expanding networks.
Before joining SRI, Dec taught in elementary schools in Massachusetts, Georgia, and American Samoa. She earned her EdM in education policy and management from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and holds a BA in history from Davidson College. Dec is also a What Works Clearinghouse-certified reviewer for group design standards (version 4.1).
Key projects
- Urban District Literacy Collaborative Study
- Opioid Affected Youth Initiative (OAYI) Expanding Handle With Care (HWC) 2.1
- Opioid Affected Youth Initiative (OAYI) Supporting Grandfamilies & Kinship Caregivers
- Regional Educational Laboratories (REL) Appalachia
