Sean Kelly (PhD, Sociology; University of Wisconsin-Madison) is Professor in the Department of Educational Foundations, Organizations, and Policy. He studies the social organization of schools, student engagement, and teacher effectiveness. In these areas he is known for applying an especially interdisciplinary approach to the scientific study of educational problems and solutions. Dr. Kelly’s current research includes development and testing of instructional observation systems based on fine-grained, automated measures of classroom discourse. This work is based on Kelly and colleagues’ seminal proof-of-concept research on automatically detecting authentic questions (Educational Researcher, 2018), and subsequent projects developing the Teacher Talk Tool (with Sidney D’Mello). This research led to the development of The Agnostic Theory of Professional Learning (Kelly, 2023, Education Policy Analysis Archives). In a current study funded by the National Science Foundation Kelly and D’Mello have partnered with TeachFX, the industry leader in technology-enabled instructional feedback, to continue their ground-breaking work on effective and efficient professional observation and feedback.
In addition, Professor Kelly is well known for transcript-based research on course taking in high schools, and for his studies of variation in high school tracking policies and instructional practices. In research on student engagement he has applied innovative observational methods to document the social distribution of student effort and the effects of classroom context and instruction. From 2019–2024 Dr. Kelly served as co-editor of the American Educational Research Journal.
To learn about the latest advancements in the science of classroom observation, check out: The Research Handbook on Classroom Observation (Edward Elgar Publishing)
- Educational policy
- Sociology
- Quantitative methods
- School leadership
- Tracking and the social organization of schools
- Student engagement
- Teacher effectiveness
- Fine-grained measures of instruction
- English language arts
- Teacher attrition
- Social psychology of education
- Kelly, Sean, Mozenter, Zachary, Aucejo, Esteban, & Jane Fruehwirth. (in press). School-to-school differences in instructional practice: New descriptive evidence on opportunity to learn. Teachers College Record.
- Kelly, Sean, Bringe, Robert, Aucejo, Esteban, & Jane Fruehwirth. (2020). Using global observation protocols to inform research on teaching effectiveness and school improvement: Strengths and emerging limitations. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 28(62). [open access]
- Northrop, Laura, Borsheim-Black, Carlin, & Sean Kelly. (2019). Matching students to books: The cultural content of eighth grade literature assignments. Elementary School Journal, 120, 243–271.
- Northrop, Laura, & Sean Kelly. (2019). Who Gets to Read What? Tracking, Instructional Practices, and Text Complexity for Middle School Struggling Readers. Reading Research Quarterly, 54, 339–361.
- Kelly, Sean, Olney, Andrew M., Donnelly, Patrick, Nystrand, Martin, & D’Mello, Sidney K. (2018). Automatically measuring question authenticity in real-world classrooms. Educational Researcher, 47, 451–464.
- EXP: Collaborative Research: Cyber-enabled Teacher Discourse Analytics to Empower Teacher Learning” (2017-2020, with Sidney D’Mello, Patrick Donnelly, & Amanda Godley; National Science Foundation, $499,394)
- Analytic and Computational Approaches to Uncover Teacher Practices that Foster Positive Identity and Equity in Engagement and Learning for Middle School Math Students (2019-2021, with Sidney D’Mello and Stephanie Wormington; Mindset Scholars Network. $137,551)
- Tailoring Teaching to Fit the Class: Teaching Practice and Classroom Composition under Random Assignment” (2017-2020, with Jane Fruewirth, Esteban Aucejo, & Ken Bollen; Institute for Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, $597,706)
- Automating the Measurement and Assessment of Classroom Discourse (2013-2017, with Martin Nystrand, Arthur Graesser, Andrew Olney, & Sidney D’Mello; Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, $1,599,828)
- 2018 – Urban Education, Outstanding Service Award as an editorial board member
- 2015 – Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis Outstanding Reviewer Award
- 2014 – American Educational Research Association Division K Award for Exemplary Research in Teaching and Teacher Education.
- 2013 – Sociology of Education Outstanding Reviewer Award
- 2008 – Spencer Foundation Exemplary Dissertation Award (awarded at the AERA Annual Meeting, New York, NY).
Dr. Kelly is co-editor of the American Educational Research Journal and serves on the editorial boards of the journals Urban Education, Social Science Research, and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. He is the former chair of AERA’s Sociology of Education special interest group, and has a secondary faculty appointment in Pitt’s Department of Sociology.
Since coming to Pitt in 2012, the Tri-State Area School Study Council, a professional development network of 100+ districts in Western Pennsylvania, has supported Kelly’s program of research.
Dr. Kelly serves on Pitt’s University Research Council
(see CV for further university, school, and department service)