Kara Jackson
Email
karajack@uw.edu
Phone
206-221-4794
Office
115E Miller
CV
CV-K.Jackson.240103.pdf
Area
Teaching, Learning & Curriculum

Research Interests

Equity Studies
Learning Sciences & Human Development
Qualitative Research Methods
Science & Mathematics
Teacher Education & Research

Kara Jackson

Professor
Elementary Teacher Education Program (ELTEP) Instructional Leadership Learning Sciences & Human Development Science or Math Education Specialization Teacher Education and Teacher Learning for Justice
I am a mathematics education researcher and teacher educator who aims to understand, and contribute to, the conditions in which youth and teachers flourish in mathematics classrooms. I study the work of secondary teaching that enables students to participate substantially in mathematics that is intellectually expansive, generative, and personally meaningful. I also study and contribute to designs regarding how schools and districts can be organized to support teachers’ development of rich, powerful forms of mathematics teaching. My research is grounded in long-term partnerships with educators (e.g., teachers, coaches, and system leaders) as well as other researchers, and it has been supported by a National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship, the Spencer Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
 
Prior to joining the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ, I was an assistant professor of mathematics education at McGill University in Montréal, Québec, and a post-doctoral research fellow at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. I began my career teaching secondary mathematics in Vanuatu as a Peace Corps volunteer, and I was a mathematics specialist who supported both youth and their families for the Say Yes to Education Foundation in Philadelphia.

Current and Past Projects

  • : publicly available tools and routines to support educators to investigate and revise the implementation of instructional improvement strategies in mathematics, especially at some scale.
  • : identification of critical components of district and school systems that enhance and impede secondary mathematics teachers’ development of rich, powerful mathematics teaching; elaboration of forms of teaching practice and teachers' views of students that enable and constrain students' learning.  
Education
PhD in Education, Culture, and Society; University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education
BA in Mathematics, Secondary Concentration in Education; Bates College
Courses Taught
Mathematics for Elementary Teachers (Undergraduate; EDUC 170)
Teaching and Learning in Numeracy (Elementary Teacher Education Program; EDTEP 520, 521, & 522)
Qualitative Methods of Educational Research (Graduate; EDPSY 586 & 587)
Seminar in Analysis of Teaching (Graduate; EDC&I 595)
Foundations of Curriculum and Instruction (Graduate; EDC&I 503)
Publications

Books

Cobb, P., Jackson, K., Henrick, E., Smith, T., & MIST Team. (2018). .  Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Yasukawa, K., Rogers, A., Jackson, K., & Street, B.V. (Eds.) (2018). . Routledge: Oxon, UK.

Journal Articles & Chapters 

Jackson, K., Nieman, H. J., DiGiacomo, D., Campos, F., & Kochmanksi, N. (2025). Mathematics teachers’ interpretations of students’ perceptions of the classroom learning environment: Opportunities for inquiry. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education. 

Jackson, K., Cobb, P., Ing, M., Ahn, J., Smith, T., Kochmanksi, N., Chinen, S., & Nieman, H. (2025). . In P. LeMahieu & P. Cobb (Eds.), Measuring to improve: Practical measurement to support continuous improvement in education (pp. 51-91). Harvard Education Press.

Nieman, H., Jackson, K., Jarry-Shore, M., Borko, H., Kazemi, E., Chinen, S., Lenges, A., Yilmaz, Z., Haines, C. (2023). Using a practical measure to support inquiry into professional development facilitation. Mathematics Teacher Educator, 12(1), 70-83.

Takahashi, S., Jackson, K., Norman, J., Ing, M., & Krumm, A. (2022). Measurement for improvement. In D. Peurach, J. Russell, L. Cohen-Vogel, & W. R. Penuel (Eds.), The foundational handbook on improvement research in education (pp. 423 - 442). Rowman & Littlefield.

Nieman, H., Kochmanski, N., Jackson, K., Cobb, P., & Henrick, E. (2020). Student surveys inform and improve classroom discussion practices. Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK – 12, 113(12), 91-99.

Jackson, K., Gibbons, L., & Sharpe, C.  (2017). Teachers’ views of students’ mathematical capabilities: Challenges and possibilities for ambitious reform. Teachers College Record, 119(7), p. - 

Wilhelm, A.G., Munter, C., & Jackson, K. (2017).  Examining relations between teachers’ diagnoses of sources of students’ difficulty in mathematics and students’ opportunities to learn. Elementary School Journal, 117(3), 345-370. 

Jackson, K., Cobb, P., Wilson, J., Webster, M., Dunlap, C., & Appelgate, M. (2015). Investigating the development of mathematics leaders' capacity to support teachers' learning on a large scale. ZDM Mathematics Education, 47(1), 93-104.

Jackson, K., Garrison, A., Wilson, J., Gibbons, L., & Shahan, E. (2013). Exploring relationships between setting up complex tasks and opportunities to learn in concluding whole-class discussions in middle-grades mathematics instruction. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 44(4), 646-682. Click to listen to a podcast about this research.

Jackson, K., Shahan, E., Gibbons, L., & Cobb, P. (2012). Launching complex tasks. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, 18(1), 24-29.

Cobb, P., & Jackson, K. (2012). Analyzing educational policies: A learning design perspective. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 21(4), 487-521.

Jackson, K. (2011). Approaching participation in school-based mathematics as a cross-setting phenomenon. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 20(1), 111-150.

Jackson, K. (2009). The social construction of youth and mathematics: The case of a fifth grade classroom. In D.B. Martin (Ed.), Mathematics teaching, learning, and liberation in the lives of Black children (pp. 175-199). New York: Routledge.