Dr. Jill Alexa Perry is the first full Professor of Practice in the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on professional doctorate preparation in education, organizational change in higher education, and faculty leadership roles. Currently she is researching the ways EdD programs teach practitioners to utilize research evidence. She teaches and coaches how to teach Improvement Science in EdD programs. Her books include The Improvement Science Dissertation in Practice, The EdD and the Scholarly Practitioner, and In their own words: A journey to the stewardship of the practice in education.
Dr. Perry is a graduate of the University of Maryland, where she received her PhD in International Education Policy. She holds an MA in Higher Education Administration and a BA in Spanish and International Studies from Boston College. She has over 25 years of experience in leadership and program development in education and teaching experience at the elementary, secondary, undergraduate, and graduate levels in the US and abroad. She is a Fulbright Scholar (Germany) and a returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Paraguay).
Improvement Science Inquiry
Higher Education administration courses
International Education policy
Professional doctorate preparation in education
Organizational change in higher education
Faculty leadership roles
Research evidence use by EdD graduates
Improvement Science Methodology
Perry, J.A. (in press) Reclaiming the education doctorate: A guidebook for preparing scholarly practitioners. Myers Education Press.
Firestone, W.A., Seashore Louis, K., Leland, A.S., Perry, J.A. (2023). Learning to use research evidence: Themcase of the education doctorate. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 00(0), 1—22. DOI: 10.1177/19427751231169314e
Nasr, N.T., & Perry, J.A. (2023). Contemporary perspectives through action research across educational disciplines: The K-12 Classroom. Information Age Publishing
Perry, J.A. (2022). Challenges in (re)designing EdD programs; Supporting change with learning cases. Myers Education Press.
Perry, J.A., Zambo, D. & Crow, R. (2020). The Improvement Science Dissertation in Practice: A guide faculty, committee members and their students. Maine: Myers Education Press.
Firestone, W.A., Perry, J.A., Leland, A.S. (2020). Teaching research and evidence use through the education doctorate. Planning and Changing. 49(3-4).
Perry, J.A. & Abruzzo, E. (2020). Preparing the scholarly practitioner: The importance of socialization in CPED-influenced EdD programs. In Weidman, J.C. & DeAngelo, L. (2020). Socialization in higher education and the early career: Theory, research and application. New York: Springer
Perry, J.A., Zambo, D.& Abruzzo, E. (2020). Faculty leader challenges and strategies in redesigning EdD programs. Impacting Education: Journal for Transforming Professional Practice. 5(1) pp.1-6.
Perry, J.A. & Zambo, D. (2019). Developing Stewards of the Practice: Understanding the Role of Improvement Science in EdD Programs. In Crow. R., Hinnant-Crawford, B. N., & Spaulding, D.T. (Eds.) (2019). The educational leader’s guide to improvement science: Data, design and cases for reflection. Gorham, ME: Meyers Education Press
WT Grant Foundation
$500,000 grant, 2017-2019
PI, The Education Doctorate: A Promising Strategy to Promote Use of Research Evidence?
US Department of Education Fund for the Improvement of Secondary Education (FIPSE)
$700,000 grant, 2010-2013
PI, Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate, A Proposal to Redesign the Professional Practice Doctorate in Education
Spencer Foundation
$75,000 grant, 2008-2009
Co-PI, Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate: Creating Rubrics for the Assessment of EdD
Executive Director – Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate (CPED), a consortium of 135+ schools of education working to reimagine the EdD.
Board President – Pittsburgh Area Peace Corps Association
Board member – Youth Enrichment Services (Pittsburgh)
