Karen Gray-Adams, Ph.D.

Dr. Karen Gray-Adams is an educational psychologist with nearly 25 years of experience in research and technical assistance with an emphasis on educational equity. She provides capacity building and technical assistance on K-16 education and other policy issues, strategic planning, and mixed-methods research. Dr. Gray-Adams has expertise in culturally responsive pedagogy, equity, and educator workforce. She is a team leader and researcher who engages partners and helps build capacity to create solutions at the local, regional, state, and national level. She further supports equity in educational environments by providing one-on-one coaching in culturally responsive and equitable evaluation methods for community-based organizations.

Dr. Gray-Adams serves as project director for the U.S. Department of Education (DoE)’s New Schools for New Orleans Supporting Effective Educator Development Grant and the Leadership Montgomery Racial Equity Action Leadership (REAL Inclusion) Program Evaluation. She also plays a critical role in needs assessments and evaluation activities to DoE’s Region 16 Comprehensive Center (CC), the Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) as well as, the National Technical Assistance Center, Title IV, Part A Technical Assistance Center (T4PA Center).

Before joining Abt, Dr. Gray-Adams served in various roles at Westat, culminating in her position as Senior Associate. In this capacity, she offered consultative support for a foundation’s strategic planning through an equity lens. Additionally, she led evaluation and capacity-building initiatives for a regional Comprehensive Center, where her contributions included assisting state and local education agencies with strategic planning, particularly through an equity-focused approach, to help them meet Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) student achievement goals and priorities.

Expertise

• Educator workforce
• Culturally responsive and equitable evaluation 
• Capacity building 
• Partner engagement 
• Educational/instructional technology

Key Projects

• Region 16 Comprehensive Center (CC)
• Research Study for the Leadership Montgomery Racial Equity Action Leadership (REAL Inclusion) Program
• New Schools for New Orleans Supporting Effective Educator Development Grant, US Department of Education
• Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) National Technical Assistance Center
• Student Support and Academic Enrichment Technical Assistance Center (T4PA)

Publications

• Gray-Adams, K. and Schroll, K. (2022, March). Preparing for difficult conversations: Our journey to build capacity to address equity in districts. Poster presentation at the Carnegie Foundation, San Diego, California.
• Gray-Adams, K. and Scott, J. (2022). Let’s get critical: Using critical race theory as an evaluation framework. Evidence in Equity Webinar Series, CEO DEI Collaborative, Rockville, MD.
• Gray-Adams, K., Scott, J., and Silva, M. (2021) Leadership Montgomery’s REAL program: Building racially equitable organizations (for Leadership Montgomery). Rockville, MD.
• Gray-Adam, K., Qushmaq, N., and Thomas, V. (2021, April). What’s in a title? A content analysis of social justice: Issues in evaluation publications. Poster presentation at the University of California, Berkeley, California.
• Gray-Adams, K. (2019). Review of Classroom Cultures: Equitable Schooling for Racially Diverse Youth by Knight-Manuel and Marciano. Journal of Negro Education.