Description of Research Expertise

Professional Biography

Caroline Ebby is a lecturer at the Graduate School of Education and Senior Researcher at the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE). She has extensive experience bridging the worlds of university-based research and school-based practice in mathematics education. At Penn GSE, Dr. Ebby has taught mathematics methods and assessment courses in the undergraduate and master’s elementary education programs since 1997.

Prior to receiving her Ph.D. at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Ebby was a middle school mathematics teacher. In her dissertation research, she investigated how preservice elementary teachers learn to teach mathematics through the integration of coursework and fieldwork experiences. In a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Performance Assessment at the Educational Testing Service, Dr. Ebby’s work focused on teachers’ learning within the context of scoring high stakes large-scale assessments. As a post-doctorate at Penn, she co-directed an NSF-funded project with Janine Remillard involving professional development and research on teacher and student learning in urban elementary schools. From 2008-2011, she worked with the Penn Partnership Schools to improve mathematics instruction through professional development, formative assessment, and the facilitation of grade group meetings focused on student learning. She has taught several continuing education courses in mathematics education for practicing teachers and provides ongoing professional development for the faculty at the Penn Alexander School.

Research Interests and Current Projects

Dr. Ebby’s research has focused on teacher learning and professional growth and children’s learning of mathematics in classroom settings. She is a founding member of the Community Based Mathematics Project (CBMP), a group of researchers, graduate students, and classroom teachers focused on collaboratively designing middle school mathematics curriculum activities that build on and reflect local urban contexts. Her current research focuses on the use of formative assessment to improve mathematics instruction, creating and sustaining professional learning communities focused on analysis of student learning, and teachers' ability to analyze and interpret student work. She is particularly interested in role of mathematical learning trajectories in supporting the formative assessment process.