Carol Keirstead, Ed.D., senior research associate at RMC Research Corporation, coleads the Region 7 Comprehensive Center project to build capacity of the Mississippi Department of Education to improve teacher effectiveness, recruitment, and retention. She also is a member of a project team assisting the Alabama Department of Education to develop and implement a framework to support high quality education for English language learners. From 2005 through 2019, she served as a director of the Regional Comprehensive Centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education to help build states’ capacities to implement priority educational policies, programs, and practices. She has more than 20 years expertise helping state education leaders design and implement systems that lead to effectiveness and equity in the educator workforce, turnaround success in low-performing schools, and the use of evidence-based and innovative approaches to schooling, teaching, and learning.
Prior to joining RMC Research, Dr. Keirstead served as an educational leader of programs serving immigrants and refugees in a variety of settings. She served as a principal of a Grades PK–4 university-public school laboratory program for trilingual education.
EDUCATION: Ed.D. in leadership in schooling from University of Massachusetts Lowell; M.Ed. in educational administration from University of Massachusetts Lowell; B.F.A. in art education from University of Massachusetts Amherst
AREAS OF EXPERTISE: Technical assistance; School leadership; Strategic planning; Equitable access to effective educators; School turnaround; and School improvement
