Jennifer O'Day

Jennifer O'Day
Jennifer O'Day
Institute Fellow,
American Institutes for Research

Jennifer O’Day is an institute fellow at the American Institutes for Research. Over the past 25 years, she has completed research, advised national and state policy makers, and written extensively in the areas of systemic standards-based reform, educational equity, accountability, and capacity-building strategies. Her work has focused on strategies for intervening in low-performing, high-poverty schools identified under systems of local, state, and federal accountability. O’Day is the founder and chair of the California Collaborative on District Reform. In 2019, she and Marshall (Mike) Smith co-authored the book Opportunity for All: A Framework for Quality and Equality in Education. She received her PhD in education administration and policy analysis from Stanford University.

updated 2020

Publications by Jennifer O'Day
What California’s Leaders Must Do Next to Advance Student Learning During COVID-19
On July 17th, 2020, Governor Newsom announced that all K–12 schools in California counties with rising COVID-19 infections would be required to teach remotely. Without a strong focus on improving the quality of remote education at scale, students…
Counties, Differentiated Assistance, and the New School Dashboard
California’s new Statewide System of Support is grounded in the fundamental principles of the Local Control Funding Formula, especially its emphasis on the central role of local educators in determining the best approaches to improvement. This…
Survey Results
In this brief we summarize findings from three surveys that sought to learn how county offices of education (COEs) are changing in response to the implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and the Statewide System of Support (SSS).…
California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) was signed into law in 2013, and represents the most significant change in California education finance and governance in 40 years. It moves additional funds to districts with students in poverty,…