Research Alliances: Challenges and Opportunities in Supporting District Improvement
Dr. Joshua L. Glazer
Dr. Joshua L. Glazer
Associate Professor, Education Policy
School: Graduate School of Education and Human Development
Department: Educational Leadership, Cross-Disciplinary
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Email:
Dr. Joshua L. Glazer
Office Phone:
(202) 994-8724
Dr. Glazer’s research and teaching examine multiple approaches to improving under-performing schools in high-poverty, urban environments. He is currently directing two multi-year studies into school turnaround. The first examines the Tennessee Achievement School District, in which the state removes underperforming schools from local control and then authorizes charter schools to develop and implement designs for improvement. The second study, also in Tennessee, investigates the efforts of Shelby County Schools, which includes Memphis, to devise and direct its own improvement initiative by using the resources and capacity of the district to improve over twenty schools that rank near the bottom of the state in academic performance. In addition, Dr. Glazer is the principal investigator for program of research looking at research-practice partnerships in Baltimore and New York City.
Dr. Glazer has published on a wide range of topics, including the replication of effective school improvement models, the role of external interveners in large-scale reform, the challenges confronting charter management organizations that operate neighborhood schools, and the dynamics of race and class in state takeover of schools, among others. He is a co-author of Improvement by Design, which examines three prominent comprehensive school reform programs in the U.S., and co-editor of Choosing Charters: Better Schools or More Segregation? His work has been featured in op-ed pieces, newspaper articles, and blogs.
Prior to joining the faculty of the George Washington University, Dr. Glazer worked for five years at the Rothschild Foundation in Jerusalem, Israel as a program officer and program director in the education division. Dr. Glazer holds a B.A. in European history from Brandeis University and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
Ph.D., University of Michigan
B.A., Brandeis University
- Education Policy
- Charter Schools
- School Improvement
- Improvement Networks
- Continuous Improvement
- School Turnaround
- State Takeovers
- Educational Professionalism
Glazer, Joshua L.; Massell, Diane; Winchell Lenhoff, Sarah; Larbi-Cherif, Adrian; Egan, Cori; Taylor, James E.; Ison, Ashley; Deleveaux, Joelle; and Millington, Zachary. (2020). District-led School Turnaround: Aiming for Ambitious and Equitable Instruction in Shelby County’s iZone. CPRE Research Reports.
Glazer, J. L., Massell, D., & Malone, M. (2019). Charter Schools in Turnaround: Competing Institutional Logics in the Tennessee Achievement School District. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 41(1), 5–33.
Glazer, J. L., Groth, L., and Beuche, B. (2019). Opportunities and challenges for NGOs amid competing institutional logics. Journal of Educational Administration, https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-10-2018-0191.
Glazer, J. L. and Egan, C. (2018). The ties that bind: building civic capacity for the Tennessee Achievement School District. American Educational Research Journal, 55(5), 928-964.
Glazer, J. L. and Peurach, D.J. (2015). Occupational governance in education: the logic and leverage of epistemic communities. Harvard Educational Review, (85).
Massell, D.,Glazer, J. L., & Malone, M. (2016). “This is the big leagues” Charter-led turnaround in a non-charter world.Tennessee Consortium on Research, Evaluation & Development. Vanderbilt Peabody College. Retrieved from http://www.publicschoolsfirstnc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/TNCRED-BigLeaguesReport_062416-2.pdf.
Glazer, J. L., & Egan, C. (2016). Research into Tennessee’s achievement school district: Race, history, and the dilemma of public engagement.Tennessee Consortium on Research, Evaluation & Development. Vanderbilt Peabody College. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295548605_THE_TENNESSEE_ACHIEVEMENT_SCHOOL_DISTRICT_RACE_HISTORY_AND_THE_DILEMMA_OF_PUBLIC_ENGAGEMENT.
Glazer, J. L., Massell, D., & Malone, M. (2015). Research into Tennessee’s achievement school district: Autonomy, incentives, and guidance for providers.Tennessee Consortium on Research, Evaluation & Development. Vanderbilt Peabody College. Retrieved from http://www.cpre.org/sites/default/files/policybrief/2049_asdreportglazer020915.pdf.
- September 2024 - Dr. Joshua Glazer was asked to provide his expertise in the ConsumerAffairs article, "The best states for public education in 2024."
- April 2024 - Dr. Joshua Glazer, together with Adrian Larbi-Cherif and GSEHD alumna Ashley Ison (master's, Education Policy), published “Continuous Improvement in Urban Districts: Bringing Environments Back In,” in the American Journal of Education.
- January 2024 - Memphis Commercial Appeal/The Tennessean quoted Joshua Glazer, associate professor of educational leadership, in the article “The debate over Tennessee's public schools can get heated. Here's how we got here,’’ by Rachel Wegner. Dr. Glazer spent years studying the public perception of the Achievement School District in Tennessee and the racial and historical implications that surround it, especially in Memphis.
- October 2023 - Dr. Joshua L. Glazer, was quoted in the Baltimore Fish Bowl's article, "Great Talk: Panel of experts discuss the current state and future of education." Dr. Glazer participated in the Great Talk lecture, "How to Educate our Children for their Best Future in a Changing World."
- October 2023 - Dr. Joshua L. Glazer, was interviewed for the JMoreLiving.com article, "Great Talk Inc. Presents Panel Discussion on Educating Today's Children."
- October 4, 2023 - Dr. Joshua Glazer joined a panel of experts at a Great Talk event hosted by The Alexander Grass Humanities Institute at Johns Hopkins University. The talk was titled, "How to Educate our Children For Their Best Future in a Changing World."
- August 2023 - Drs. Matthew Shirrell and Joshua Glazer, together with Dr. Megan Duff and GSEHD alumna Dr. Dryw Freed (Ed.D., Education Policy), published an article entitled, “The Winds of Changes: How Research Alliances Respond to and Manage Shifting Field-Level Logics,” in American Educational Research Journal.
- August 2023 - Drs. Joshua Glazer and Matthew Shirrell, together with Dr. Megan Duff and GSEHD alumna Dr. Dryw Freed (Ed.D., Education Policy), published an article entitled, "Walking a Tightrope: Navigating Principal-Agent Dilemmas in Research-Practice Partnerships in Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis" in the journal, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis (EEPA).
- March 2023 - NJ.com quoted Joshua Glazer, associate professor of educational leadership, in the article “A stake in the heart of educational equity | Editorial,’’ by the Editorial Board.
- December 2022 - Quoted in The Philadelphia Inquirer article, "First N.J. standardized test scores since the pandemic show students still struggling."