About Martha Abele Mac Iver
Martha Abele Mac Iver
Research Scientist,
Johns Hopkins University
Martha Mac Iver, Ph.D. is a political scientist who made the transition into educational policy research after more than a decade of research on both the Northern Ireland conflict and the political transformation of Europe after 1989. At the Center for Social Organization of Schools her research and publications have focused on the effectiveness of school and district educational interventions designed to improve student achievement, including Direct Instruction, Core Knowledge, Career Academies, university-school partnerships, dropout prevention/college readiness high school programs, after-school and summer programs, educational privatization, alternative certification, and other interventions.
Currently she is leading an analytical effort to provide information for data informed decisionmaking by Colorado districts participating in an initiative aimed to cut Colorado's dropout rate over the next decade, spearheaded by several Colorado organizations. This work will help districts understand the behavioral characteristics of their dropout populations and provide information regarding middle grades students who are showing dropout risk indicators. With support from the Abell Foundation, the New Teacher Project, the Baltimore Curriculum Project, and the Center for Summer Learning she has studied educational reform efforts in the Baltimore City Public Schools for more than a decade, and participates actively as a researcher with the recently formed Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC).