Who We Are
BERC is a partnership between Morgan State University, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore City Public Schools, and other Maryland universities, along with a wide set of affiliated faculty and researchers.
RESEARCH BOARD & INSTITUTIONAL LEADS
The group reviews and approves all research projects and products. It maintains a quality-control process, ensuring all work is of high scientific rigor and relevant to the mission and priorities of BERC and City Schools.
CEO-DEANS BOARD
The group facilitates communication about findings from current projects and how the district will implement changes to practice or policy.

Marcia H. Davis
Managing Director, Director of Research Operations
Marcia Davis is an associate professor in the School of Education and is a Co-Director of the Center for Social Organization of Schools. She currently teaches courses in mixed methods and evaluation in the Doctor of Education degree program and advises in the PhD degree program. Marcia has a master’s degree in Educational Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation and a doctoral degree in Educational Psychology. She has conducted research on a range of topics that include supporting struggling adolescent readers, measurement of adolescent reading motivation, and the use of early warning indicators and systems for dropout prevention.

Lieny Jeon
Director of Early Childhood Initiatives
Lieny Jeon is the Jeffrey Alexander Grigg Associate Professor in the Department of Advanced Studies in Education at Johns Hopkins School of Education. She leads the Early Childhood Data Collaborative (ECDC) which is an early childhood focused research-practice partnership. She received her PhD degree in Human Development and Family Science with a minor in Quantitative Method at Ohio State University. She completed her post-doctoral training in the Department of Defense Child Development Virtual Laboratory School. Her research focuses on early care and education, family characteristics and neighborhood disadvantage that impact children’s lives.

Rachel E. Durham
Senior Fellow
Rachel E. Durham is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDMU) and has a background in sociology of education, education policy and demography. Prior to joining NDMU, she spent 11 years as a full-time researcher at BERC, serving as Research Co-Director and Evaluation Director, and representing BERC on a number of citywide workgroups and taskforces. Her research focuses on graduates’ transition to adulthood, differences between career and college readiness, and community schools.
Graduate Research Assistants

Zyrashae Smith
Graduate Research Assistant

Juan Cortes
Graduate Research Assistant

Briana Bostic
Graduate Research Assistant

Xiangyu Zhao
Graduate Research Assistant

Ebony Leon
Graduate Research Assistant

Jun Wang
Graduate Research Assistant
Research Board & Institutional Leads
The Research Board is chaired by the City Schools research director and the research co-directors from founding universities, Morgan State and Johns Hopkins. Membership includes one faculty member from each university, referred to as Institutional Leads. Research board Institutional Leads serve as liaisons between any interested faculty members at their institution and BERC. The Research Board reviews and approves all research projects and products. This board collaboratively maintains a quality-control process to ensure that all work generated through BERC is of high scientific rigor and relevant to the mission and priorities of BERC and City Schools. The Research Board meets monthly to ensure timely approval of projects.
Research Board Co-Chairs
Christopher Wohn
Director of Research, Baltimore City Public Schools
Simone Gibson
Associate Professor, Morgan State University
Julia Burdick-Will
Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University
Institutional Leads
Sean Coleman
Director of Doctoral Program, Bowie State University
Harriet Kargbo
Assistant Program and Program Coordinator, Center for Adult Learning, Coppin State University
Qi Shi
Associate Professor, Loyola University Maryland
Seema D. Iyer
Associate Director, The Jacob France Institute, University of Baltimore
Jane Arnold Lincove
Associate Professor, School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Jessica Shiller
Associate Professor, Towson University
Ana Taboada Barber
Dean for Research, Innovation and Partnerships
Rachel Durham
Associate Professor, Notre Dame of Maryland University
Terry Shaw
Associate Professor and Director, Research Division, Institute for Innovation and Implementation, University of Maryland