Lesson Study Group at Mills College

Catherine Lewis

Currently director of lesson study research projects funded by NSF and IES and a senior research scientist at Mills College, Catherine Lewis comes from four generations of public school teachers. Fluent in Japanese, she has conducted research in Japanese and U.S. schools for 25 years. Her writings and videotapes, including Lesson Study: A Handbook of Teacher-Led Instructional Change and 'Can You Lift 100 Kilograms?' have introduced many U.S. educators to lesson study. A graduate of Harvard University (B.A.) and Stanford University (Ph.D.), she  is author of more than 40 publications on elementary education and child development, including the award-winning book Educating Hearts and Minds: Reflections on Japanese Preschool and Elementary Education (Cambridge University Press, 1995).

Rebecca Perry

Rebecca Perry co-directs the NSF and IES research projects, with primary responsibility for instrument design and for data collection, management, and analysis. Her primary research foci include documenting implementation progress and challenges, extending the research on teacher learning, and using research to support improvements in ongoing innovations.  Rebecca graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (B.S.) and Stanford University (Ph.D.).  The current lesson study work extends her prior research experiences, focused on teacher professional communities, policy implementation, and education reform efforts at the national, state and local levels.

For further information on Rebecca Perry, see: short vita.

Shelley Friedkin

Shelley Friedkin joined the Mills College Lesson Study Group in 2000 as project coordinator, responsible for many facets of project management.  In 2008 she joined the research team, where her responsibilities include school site liaison, management of data collection, and participation in developing and testing a conceptual model of teachers’ learning during lesson study.

Shelley graduated from Brunel University in England with an elementary teaching credential and taught in Central London before coming to live in the US. She is currently a doctoral student in the educational leadership program at Mills College.  Her interests include teacher learning, professional noticing, and teachers’ use of data during practiced-based professional development.

Elizabeth K. Baker

Elizabeth has been affiliated with the Mills College Lesson Study group since 2001, currently as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate. Her doctoral research was on the application of lesson study to the pre-service setting. She received her B.S. from University of California, Davis, her M.P.H. from University of Hawaii, and her secondary teaching credential and Masters and Doctorate in Education from Mills College. Her research interests include pre-service and in-service mathematics and science education, teacher learning, adaptive expertise in the teaching of mathematics and science and urban school reform.

Melissa Crockett

Melissa Crockett is the Administrative Assistant for the Lesson Study Group. She manages the group’s budgets, research materials and website and media resources. Prior to joining the Lesson Study Group, Melissa worked as an administrator in higher education and education abroad programs. She obtained her B.A. in Communication at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, where she was active in student government and service organizations. She is currently working on her Masters in Public Administration at California State East Bay and is interested in organizational theory and culture in the workplace.