Jennifer Karnopp has won the Educational Change Special Interest Group Graduate Student Research Award from the American Educational Research Association (AERA).

Karnopp earned her Ph.D. in History, Philosophy, and Policy in Education with a specialization in Educational Policy Studies and concentration in K-12 Leadership. She said she was elated and humbled to win this award, having admired the work of those in the Educational Change special interest group (SIG) for years.

Karnopp’s dissertation was an exploratory mixed-methods study that examined educator knowledge-building about teaching practices related to the implementation of a new initiative in an under-resourced, rural district. Her research seeks to understand how educators navigate change implementation within their localized school contexts.

“I am committed to engaging in research that provides insight into the processes and practices that support school change,” she said. “I see relationships as central to the work of teaching and leading to achieve school change goals, and so I am particularly interested in how organizational structures and the internal and external socio-political contexts in which schools are situated influence or mediate school improvement and change.”

“I have always had a passion for helping to make school learning experiences the best they can be for marginalized learners and students in under-resourced schools,” she added. “I’ve been a classroom teacher, a special educator and a school principal. As a field, we have a pretty good idea of what works for kids; the hard part is getting changes to stick. Helping to figure that out is what drives me.”