Maggie Hannan is a Senior Research Associate with WestEd’s Teacher Workforce team. Hannan is a learning scientist who specializes in collaborative problem-solving research. Trained in mixed methods, she is most interested in complex systems change efforts and amplifying voices and experiences that have not traditionally been captured in research and evaluation. She specializes in using qualitative methods to explore intricate implementation processes that span multiple system levels and organizational locations, such as teacher preparation, educational technology diffusion, and instructional coaching initiatives.
Hannan has extensive experience as a researcher and evaluator. She has evaluated several large-scale teacher workforce initiatives, focusing on teacher residencies and teacher induction as critical levers for improved outcomes in K–12 schools, and she has served as a developmental evaluator on multiple district and state-level improvement and transformation networks. Maggie also explores innovation and improvement from a complex systems perspective, aiming to understand and improve complex processes like teacher workforce interventions, educational technology implementation, and the application of improvement science and other change methodologies. Across these areas, Maggie is passionate about collaborating with participants, clients, and stakeholders to build more effective, equitable, and just educational systems.
Prior to coming to WestEd, Hannan led an educational research, innovation, and community engagement program at Carnegie Mellon University.
Hannan holds a PhD from the Learning Research and Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh, where she also worked with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the RAND Corporation.