Russell Gersten, Ph.D.
In addition to his work at the Instructional Research Group, Dr. Gersten is also a
professor emeritus in the College of Education at the University of Oregon.
He is the director of the Math Strand for the Center on Instruction, the director
of research for the Regional Educational Laboratory-South West, and the
principal investigator for several What Works Clearinghouse projects.
As Project Director of the Teacher Quality Distribution and Measurement Study,
Dr. Gersten is currently working with a team of researchers from Harvard
University to revise a mathematics observation measure that will be used to
determine the effect of professional development on teachers' mathematics
instruction. He is also a coauthor of a mathematics screening and progress monitoring
measure for kindergarten and first-grade students that is in press.
His main areas of expertise include evaluation methodology and instructional
research on students with learning disabilities, mathematics, and reading
comprehension. Dr. Gersten has conducted numerous randomized trials, many
of which have been published in major scientific journals in the field. He has
either directed or codirected 42 applied research grants addressing a wide array
of issues in education and has been a recipient of many federal and nonfederal
grants (more than $20 million). He has advised on a variety of reading and mathematics
projects using randomized trials in education settings and has written
extensively about the importance of randomized trials in special education
research.
In 2002, Dr. Gersten received the Distinguished Special Education
Researcher Award from the American Educational Research Association's
Special Education Research Division. He served as a member of the National
Mathematics Advisory Panel, a Presidential committee to develop researchbased
policy in mathematics for American schools. Dr. Gersten also chaired the
Panel that developed A Practice Guide on Response to Intervention in
Mathematics for the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education
Sciences (IES).