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Heather C. Hill

Heather Hill

Faculty Info

Hazen-Nicoli Professor in Teacher Learning and Practice

(On Leave 2025-2026)

Degrees

Ph.D., University of Michigan, (2000)

Vitae/CV

heather-hill-79317.pdf

Areas of Expertise

Heather Hill

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Email

heather_hill@gse.harvard.edu

Office

Gutman 445

Office Hours

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Faculty Coordinator

Kyla Painter

Heather Hill studies policies and programs designed to improve teacher and teaching quality, particularly in mathematics. Her recent research focuses on teacher learning and professional development, the quality of mathematics instruction, the effectiveness of different approaches to teacher education, and machine learning tools that automate the measurement of instruction and feedback to teachers. Hill and her team have also created assessments that capture teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching and teachers’ mathematical quality of instruction and disseminated these assessments via online training and administration systems. Hill is an elected member of the National Academy of Education and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She also serves on the editorial boards of several journals and is an advisor to numerous research projects and policy efforts in both the U.S. and abroad. She is co-author of Learning Policy: When State Education Reform Works (2001) with David K. Cohen.

  • Hill, H.C. & Grossman, P. (2013). Learning from Teacher Evaluations: Challenges & Opportunities. Harvard Education Review 83, 371-384.
  • Hill, H. C., Beisiegel, M., & Jacob, R. (2013). Professional Development Research Consensus, Crossroads, and Challenges. Educational Researcher, 42(9), 476-487.
  • Hill, H.C. & Grossman, P. (2013). Learning from Teacher Evaluations: Challenges & Opportunities. Harvard Education Review 83, 371-384.
  • Hill, H.C. (in press). The nature and effects of middle school mathematics teacher learning experiences. Teachers’ College Record.
  • Hill, H.C., Umland, K. L. & Kapitula, L.R. (2011). A validity argument approach to evaluating value-added scores. American Educational Research Journal.
  • Hill. H.C. (2010). The nature and predictors of elementary teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 41 (5), 513-545.
  • Hill, H.C. (2009). Evaluating value-added models: A measurement perspective. Journal of Policy and Management, 28, 702-209.
  • Hill, H.C. & Ball, D.L. (2009) The curious — and crucial — case of Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching. Phi Delta Kappan , 91, 68-71.
  • Hill, H.C. & Shih, J. (2009) Research commentary: Examining the quality of statistical mathematics education research. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education.
  • Delaney. S. F., Ball, D. L., Hill, H. C., Schilling, S.G., & Zopf, D. A. (2008). Adapting U.S. measures of “Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching” for use in Ireland. Under review at Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education,11, 171-197..
  • Hill, H.C., Ball, D.L. & Schilling, S.G. (2008) Unpacking “Pedagogical Content Knowledge”: Journal for Research in Mathematics Education,39, 372-400.
  • Hill, H.C., Blunk, M. Charalambous, C., Lewis, J., Phelps, G. C. Sleep, L. & Ball, D.L. (2008). Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching and the Mathematical Quality of Instruction: An Exploratory Study. Cognition and Instruction, 26, 430-511.
  • Hill, H.C., Ball, D.L., Sleep, L. & Lewis, J.M. (2007) Assessing Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge: What Knowledge Matters and What Evidence Counts? In F. Lester (Ed.), Handbook for Research on Mathematics Education (2nd ed), p. 111-155. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
  • Hill, H.C. (2007). Mathematical knowledge of middle school teachers: Implications for the No Child Left Behind Policy initiative. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis (29), 95-114.
  • Hill, H.C. (2007). Teachers’ Ongoing Learning: Evidence from Research and Practice. The Future of Children, 17, 111-128.
  • Hill, H.C. & Lubienski, S.T. (2007) Teachers’ mathematics knowledge for teaching and school context: A study of California teachers. Educational Policy 21(5), 747-768.
  • Schilling, S.G., Blunk, M. & Hill, H.C. (2007). Test Validation and the MKT Measures: Generalizations and Conclusions. Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives (5), 2-3, 118-127.
  • Schilling, S.G. & Hill, H.C. (2007). Assessing Measures of Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching: A Validity Argument Approach. Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives (5), 2-3, 70-80.
  • Hill, H.C., Ball, D.L., Blunk, M. Goffney, I.M. & Rowan, B. (2007). Validating the ecological assumption: The relationship of measure scores to classroom teaching and student learning. Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives (5), 2-3, 107-117.
  • Hill, H.C., Dean, C. & Goffney, I.M. (2007). Assessing Elemental and Structural Validity: Data from Teachers, Non-teachers, and Mathematicians. Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives (5), 2-3, 81-92.
  • Learning Mathematics for Teaching. (2006). A Coding rubric for measuring the Quality of Mathematics in Instruction. Ann Arbor, MI: Authors.
  • Hill, H.C. (2006) Language matters: How characteristics of languagecomplicate policy implementation. In M.I. Honig (Ed.), New directions in education policy implementation: Confronting complexity. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
  • Hill, H.C. (2005). Content across communities: Validating measures of elementary mathematics instruction. Educational Policy 19, 447-475.
  • Hill, H.C., Rowan, B., & Ball, D.L. (2005) Effects of teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching on student achievement. American Educational Research Journal 42, 371-406.
  • Ball, D.L., Hill, H.C. & Bass, H. (2005) Knowing mathematics for teaching: Who knows mathematics well enough to teach third grade, and how can we decide? American Educator, Fall 2005, 14-22.
  • Hill, H. C. (2004) Professional development standards and practices in elementary school mathematics. Elementary School Journal 104, 215-31.
  • Hill, H. C. & Ball, D. L. (2004) Learning mathematics for teaching: Results from California’s Mathematics Professional Development Institutes. Journal of Research in Mathematics Education 35, 330-351.
  • Hill, H.C., Schilling, S.G., & Ball, D.L. (2004) Developing measures of teachers’ mathematics knowledge for teaching. Elementary School Journal 105, 11-30.
  • Hill, H.C. (2003) Understanding implementation: Street-level bureaucrats’ resources for reform. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 13, 265-282.
  • Cohen, D.K. & Hill, H.C. (2001) Learning policy: When state education reform works. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
  • Hill, H .C. (2001) Policy is not enough: Language and the interpretation of state standards. American Educational Research Journal 38, 289-320.
  • Cohen D. K. & Hill, H.C. (2000) Instructional policy and classroom performance: The mathematics reform in California. Teachers College Record 102, 296-345.

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