Karen L. Mapp is a lecturer on education at HGSE. Her research and practice expertise is in the areas of educational leadership and educational partnerships among schools, families, and community members. Mapp joined HGSE in January 2005 after serving for 18 months as the interim deputy superintendent of Family and Community Engagement for the Boston Public Schools (BPS). While working with the BPS, she continued to fulfill her duties as president of the Institute for Responsive Education (IRE), a research, policy, and advocacy organization that conducts research on and advocates for effective school, family, and community partnerships that support the educational development of children. Mapp joined IRE in 1997 as project director for the Boston Community Partners for Students' Success initiative. She was appointed vice president in May 1998 and president in September 1998. Mapp holds a doctorate and master's of education from HGSE in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy, a master's in Counselor Education from Southern Connecticut State University, and a bachelor's degree in psychology from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1997, she was awarded a Spencer Dissertation Fellowship for her research on how and why families are involved in their children's educational development. She is the author of "Making the Connection between Families and Schools," published by the Harvard Education Letter (1997) and "Having Their Say: Parents Describe How and Why They Are Engaged in Their Children's Learning" in the School Community Journal (2002). She also coauthored with Anne Henderson A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement (2002).

Degrees

• Ed.D., Harvard University

• Community Organizing and School Reform, Ford Foundation, (2009-2011)
  The project involves conducting case studies of six organizing efforts that are making a significant impact on education reform. Our goal is to “dig deep” in order to reveal and analyze how organizing works to contribute to equity-oriented education reform in low income communities. We will produce individual case studies of each effort, a paper drawing lessons across the cases, and workshop training materials for organizations and school systems interested in fostering organizing efforts. The first year of the project focused on the preparation of the research project and the conduct of field research. The second year of the project focused on data analysis, write-up of the individual case studies and the development of the cross-case analysis. The final segment (of 18 month duration) is planned in order to revise the case studies into book form, to complete the production of teaching cases and workshop materials, and to disseminate our findings via these materials as well as holding sessions at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association and at a national conference on community organizing and school reform at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
• Community Organizing and Social Reform, Spencer Foundation, (2008-2010)
  This project supports the second year of a research project studying community organizing efforts aimed at school reform in low-income communities. Community organizing has emerged as an important strategy to organize the concerns and create effective opportunities for voice among parents and the broader public, an important focus of that program. By community organizing for school reform, we mean efforts by community-based organizations to engage parents, community residents, young people and educators in collective action to improve public schools and to address inequities in public education (e.g., Oakes & Rogers, 2005; Shirley, 1997; Warren, 2005). Recent research has demonstrated that organizing efforts can build the capacity of schools and improve educational outcomes in low-income communities (Mediratta, Shah, & McAlister, 2008). But we know less about how organizing efforts create change and the contextual factors that shape their outcomes. The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the methods, processes, and capacities through which community organizing works to create and support school reform. We will develop this analysis through conducting a multi-case study of six community organizing efforts that have made significant accomplishments in building parent and community participation in school reform in low-income communities.

• A-021   Leadership in Social-Change Organizations (Fall 2012)
• A-111R   Elements of Effective Family-School Partnerships (Winter 2013)
• A-122   The Why, What, and How of School, Family, and Community Partnerships (Spring 2013)

An interview with Karen Mapp on how to enhance family engagement by linking it to learning in school

Karen Mapp discusses her book Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships in a recent Askwith Education Forum.