About the National High School Center
Friends of the National High School Center
Becky A. Smerdon
Becky Smerdon is Principal Research Scientist, Vice President and Deputy Director, U.S. Education and Workforce Development, Academy for Educational Development, where she is leading the development of a research and development agenda on disadvantaged youth and education reform with a particular focus on successful transition to college and work. Prior to coming to the Academy for Educational Development, Smerdon was a Senior Research Associate at the Urban Institute where she led a formative and summative evaluation of Baltimore’s high school reform initiative, a study of the math/science pipeline in North Carolina’s reforming high schools funded by the National Science Foundation, and a project developing indicators of high school reform implementation funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to joining the Urban Institute, Smerdon was a Principal Research Scientist at the American Institutes of Research where she led the U.S. Department of Education’s National High School Center. She is a nationally recognized expert in high school reform and has conducted a number of research studies, many of which have been presented at national conferences and published in academic journals such as, American Educational Research Journal, Sociology of Education, Teachers College Record, and Research in the Sociology of Education and Socialization.
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