Research Alliances: Challenges and Opportunities in Supporting District Improvement
Dr. Matthew Shirrell
Dr. Matthew Shirrell
Associate Professor, Educational Leadership and Administration
School: Graduate School of Education and Human Development
Department: Educational Leadership, Cross-Disciplinary
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Dr. Matthew Shirrell
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(202) 994-4515
Matthew Shirrell is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Administration in the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at George Washington University. His research explores the relationships between policy, the social and organizational characteristics of schools and school systems, and learning, improvement, and teacher retention.
Much of Dr. Shirrell’s current work uses interviews and social network analysis to understand teachers’ and school leaders’ advice and information seeking about instruction, including the factors that predict both seeking and being sought out for advice; how advice seeking and giving change throughout teachers’ and school leaders’ careers; and the impacts of policy changes on who teachers and school leaders talk to about their work. For 2020-21, he was awarded a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship for his study of National Board-certified teachers’ roles in their colleagues learning and improvement, focusing particularly on how colleagues’ perceptions of the knowledge and expertise of Board certified teachers shapes the leadership of Board-certified teachers in their schools.
Dr. Shirrell’s work has also focused at the organizational level, exploring the roles that partnerships with outside research organizations play in school district learning and improvement. Dr. Shirrell has served as co-principal investigator for a longitudinal comparative case study of two research alliances that partnered with large urban districts. In this work, Dr. Shirrell and his colleagues have explored the ways that research alliances support district learning and improvement, and the roles of organizational design and shifting conceptions of legitimacy in supporting and hindering these organizations’ work to build district learning and improvement.
Dr. Shirrell’s work has also examined the impacts of federal, state, and local policies on school working conditions and the retention of teachers and school leaders. This work has explored a variety of areas, including the effects of No Child Left Behind’s subgroup-specific accountability on teacher turnover, attrition, and teaching assignments; the role of school working conditions in shaping student teachers’ career plans; and new principals’ efforts to build their teachers’ trust and commitment when they take over highly pressured, low-performing schools.
Dr. Shirrell’s work has been funded by the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, the Chan/Zuckerberg Initiative, the American Educational Research Association, and the Albert Shanker Institute. Dr. Shirrell earned a Ph.D. in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University, a M.S. in Early Childhood Education from Erikson Institute, and a B.A. in English from Grinnell College. Prior to joining the faculty of George Washington University, Dr. Shirrell was a post-doctoral fellow with the Distributed Leadership Study at the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University.
Ph.D., Northwestern University
M.S., Erikson Institute
B.A., Grinnell College
- School Organizations
- Teacher Leadership
- School Working Conditions
- Organizational Learning
- Teacher Retention
- Social Network Analysis
- Mixed Methods
Shirrell, M., Glazer, J. L., Duff, M., & Freed, A. D. (2023). The winds of changes: How research alliances respond to and manage shifting field-level demands. American Educational Research Journal, 60(6), 1221-1257. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312231193401
Duff, M., Glazer, J. L., Shirrell, M., & Freed, A. D. (2023). Walking a tightrope: Navigating principal-agent dilemmas in research-practice partnerships. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737231188366
Shirrell, M., Bristol, T. J., & Britton, T. A. (2023). The effects of student-teacher ethnoracial matching on exclusionary discipline for Asian American, Black, and Latinx students: Evidence from New York City. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737231175461
Glazer, J. L., Shirrell, M., Duff, M., & Freed, A. D. (2023). Beyond boundary spanning: Theory and learning in research-practice partnerships. American Journal of Education, 129(2), 265-295. https://doi.org/10.1086/723061
Shirrell, M. (2021). On their own? The work-related social interactions and turnover of new teachers. American Journal of Education, 127(3), 399-439. https://doi.org/10.1086/713828
Thessin, R., Shirrell, M., & Richardson, T. (2020). How do principal supervisors interact with leadership teams in high needs schools? Planning and Changing, 49(3/4), 173-201.
Shirrell, M., & Spillane, J. P. (2020). Opening the door: Physical infrastructure, school leaders’ work-related social interactions, and sustainable educational improvement. Teaching and Teacher Education, 88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.05.012
Bristol, T. J., & Shirrell, M. (2019). Who is here to help me? The work-related social networks of staff of color in two mid-sized districts. American Educational Research Journal, 56(3), 868-898. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831218804806
Shirrell, M., Hopkins, M., & Spillane, J. P. (2019). Educational infrastructure, professional learning, and changes in teachers’ instructional practices and beliefs. Professional Development in Education, 45(4), 599-613. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2018.1452784
Spillane, J. P., Shirrell, M., & Adhikari, S. (2018). Constructing ‘experts’ among peers: Test data, educational infrastructure, and teachers’ interactions about teaching. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 40(4), 586-612. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373718785764
Shirrell, M. (2018). The effects of subgroup-specific accountability on teacher turnover and attrition. Education Finance and Policy, 13(3), 333-368. https://doi.org/10.1162/edfp_a_00227
Spillane, J. P., Shirrell, M., & Sweet, T. M. (2017). The elephant in the schoolhouse: The role of propinquity in school staff interactions about teaching. Sociology of Education, 90(2), 149-171. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040717696151
Spillane, J. P., & Shirrell, M. (2017). Breaking up isn’t hard to do: Exploring the dissolution of teachers’ and school leaders’ work-related ties. Educational Administration Quarterly, 53(4), 616-648. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X17696557
Shirrell, M., & Reininger, M. (2017). School working conditions and changes in student teachers’ planned persistence in teaching. Teacher Education Quarterly, 44(2), 49-78. https://www.jstor.org/stable/90010518
Shirrell, M. (2016). New principals, accountability, and commitment in low-performing schools. Journal of Educational Administration, 54(5), 558-574. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-08-2015-0069
Spillane, J. P., Shirrell, M., & Hopkins, M. (2016). Designing and deploying a Professional Learning Community (PLC) organizational routine: Bureaucratic and collegial structures in tandem. Les Dossiers des Sciences de l’Education, 35, 97-122. https://doi.org/10.4000/dse.1283
- October 2024 - Dr. Matthew Shirrell, along with current doctoral student and DCPS principal Katreena Shelby (Educational Leadership and Administration), attended a convening in Chicago hosted by the Spencer Foundation and the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, focused on “New Directions in Teaching, Educator Preparation, and Learning.” The convening brought to together scholars, policymakers, and practitioners from around the world whose work focuses on issues of teacher recruitment, retention, and leadership. As part of a panel on teacher leadership, Dr. Shirrell presented a talk, ”Can Board Certification Be A Pathway to Teacher Leadership?” based on his research with 2024 educational policy doctoral alumna Dr. Anshu Saha.
- June 2024 - Dr. Matthew Shirrell, along with recent graduate Dr. Anshu Saha (Ed.D., Education Policy), published an article in Educational Administration Quarterly entitled, “All Dressed Up With No Place to Go? National Board Certification and Teacher Leadership.” The paper analyzes data on teachers' social networks, along with interviews of teachers, school leaders, and district and state officials. It explores the extent to which Board-certified teachers engage in leadership, the ways that this leadership varies across school subjects, districts, and schools, and how educators understand the relationship between Board certification and teacher leadership.
- August 27, 2023 - Dr. Matthew Shirrell was a guest on "Do The Work," a monthly talk show hosted by The Educator's Room. They discussed his study, “The effects of Student- Teacher Ethnoracial Matching on Exclusionary Discipline for Asian American, Black, Latinx Students: Evidence from New York City."
- 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 2020 - Dr. Matthew Shirrell presented his work on National Board certification and teacher leadership at the national headquarters of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in Arlington, VA. His presentation focused on his research on the factors that shape Board-certified teachers’ interactions with, and leadership of, their colleagues.
