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Meet CEPR's New Executive Director: Dr. Christina Grant

Christina Grant

CEPR Welcomes New Executive Director, Dr. Christina Grant

Dr. Christina Grant — an education leader who successfully implemented evidence-based research in some of the country’s largest school systems — will become the new executive director for the Center for Education Policy Research (CEPR) at Harvard University.

As executive director, Grant will bridge the gap between the world of academic research and system leaders.   

“The type of rigorous and practical research that CEPR specializes in has always guided my work as an educator and leader,” Grant said. “I am excited to build more partnerships with state leaders and school systems that design research and advance educational solutions that can move the needle for children nationwide.” 

Grant joins CEPR from Washington, D.C., where she has served as State Superintendent of Education since 2021. There, her office oversaw policy, federal/local grants, standards, assessments, and accountability for the District’s entire education system. 

Unlike medicine and other fields, the education sector has not yet fully embraced gathering evidence and rigorously evaluating new approaches for efficacy, said Dr. John B. King, Jr., Chancellor of the State University of New York, former U.S. Secretary of Education, and member of the CEPR advisory board. Engaging with data in a new way represents a huge, untapped opportunity to improve outcomes for all learners. 

“Evidence-based decision-making requires getting the decision-makers engaged in evidence-building,” King said. “Dr. Grant is the perfect person to bring state and local leaders together with researchers to rigorously evaluate their ideas so they can make sure the next wave of innovations deliver on their promise to students.” 

 

Read the full press release.

Tom KaneDr. Thomas Kane, CEPR Faculty Director, Walter H. Gale Professor of Education and Economics at the Harvard Graduate School of Education

“With Dr. Grant’s leadership, we will help the decision-makers in education begin to test their ideas– evaluating curricula, tutoring programs, absenteeism reduction, and more. No reform idea in vogue today will make a bigger difference 20 years from now than making the systematic testing of any reform proposal a habit and an expectation– as well as a moral obligation to students.”

 

John B. King, Jr.Dr. John B. King, Jr., Chancellor of the State University of New York, former U.S. Secretary of Education

“Evidence-based decision-making requires getting the decision-makers engaged in evidence-building. Dr. Grant is the perfect person to bring state and local leaders together with researchers to rigorously evaluate their ideas so they can make sure the next wave of innovations deliver on their promise to students.” 

 

About Dr. Grant

Dr. Christina Grant is the Executive Director for the Center for Education Policy at Harvard University. Throughout her career as an educator, administrator, and executive in some of America’s largest school systems, Dr. Grant has worked to create evidence-based solutions that improve outcomes for students and communities. 

At CEPR, Dr. Grant brings together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to build transformative partnerships grounded in rigorous research that will benefit learners at every stage of life. 

Dr. Grant previously served as District of Columbia’s State Superintendent of Education for the Office of the State Superintendent of Education. While there, she oversaw grants, standards, assessments, and accountability for the District’s elementary and secondary schools, including implementing the first revision of social studies standards in twenty years. Grant also led a $100 million investment in programs to drive post-pandemic academic recovery. Prior to the District of Columbia, Dr. Grant served as the Chief of Charter Schools and Innovation for The School District of Philadelphia. In that capacity, she redesigned the accountability metrics for Innovation and Alternative Education school models and helped lead the district’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Dr. Grant has served as a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, teaching courses on educational leadership. Much of her research and public speaking and writing has focused on the challenges faced by women in leadership and the importance of research-based investments and evidence-based interventions..  

Dr. Grant's leadership is grounded in the belief that diversity and inclusiveness is more than just a phrase but the cornerstone set of advancements needed to truly transform public education and our world.

Dr. Grant's career began as a public school teacher in Harlem; since then, she's held numerous roles in education, including as Superintendent of the Great Oaks Foundation and Deputy Executive Director at the New York City Department of Education. Dr. Grant has a doctorate in education with a focus on organizational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania; two master's degrees: one in organizational leadership from the Teachers College of Columbia University and one in teaching and adolescent reading from Fordham University; and a bachelor's degree from Hofstra University.