Center for Innovation in Applied Education Policy

Who We Are

The mission of the IAEP Center is to bring more coherence and linkages between systems of support for at-promise students across the public education system. Our IAEP Center brings together disparate providers, policymakers, and stakeholders who too often have been siloed and fragmented by professional school, preparation pathway, and career track. It is this commitment to deep equity for at-promise youth across California’s system of schools that guides our work on applied research and innovative, practice-based not for profit solutions. As public servants, we focus on the children who are the most vulnerable in the State’s systems of support. 

We are a team of CSU faculty with an interprofessional collaborative vision for systemic change to close opportunity gaps. Our team has deep experience with California systems of support providers and expertise in the fields of leadership, social work, public health, school counseling and teacher education. Our Directors’ and faculty leads’ approaches to transformative assistance for at-promise youth in K-12 systems are centered on bringing applied research to life through professional practice that is accessible to a myriad of stakeholders and knowledge networks.

Purpose

We are next gen CSU faculty with a collaborative vision that supports systemic change to empower CA systems of support providers to better serve at-promise students. The IAEP Center is based at San José State University with strong ties to other CSU campuses that are committed to closing opportunity gaps. We serve as a knowledge network hub to liaise between university units at SJSU and TK-12 organizations across the state to promote synergistic use of interprofessional and interdisciplinary perspectives on school reform.

Our CCREE Project Team

• Dr. Brent Duckor, Executive Director IAEP Center

  • Brent Duckor, Ph.D., is a Professor at SJSU’s College of Education who serves in the Department of Teacher Education and the Ed.D. Leadership program.

    His training in the Quantitative Methods and Evaluation program at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education informs his mixed methods research and applied policy focus. Dr. Duckor’s expertise with the deep principles and practices of assessment, testing and evaluation spans K-12 to higher education.

    Dr. Duckor is a leading scholar in the field of K-12 assessment for learning. His perspectives from the field of applied psychometrics brings a unique commitment to and expertise with educational measurement across multiple classroom assessment settings. His scholarship has appeared in Teachers College Record, Phi Delta Kappan, Journal of Teacher Education, Journal of Educational Measurement, Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, Educational Leadership and most recently, the International Encyclopedia of Education.

    He is the author of two internationally recognized books with Dr. Carrie Holmberg. Mastering Formative Assessment Moves (ASCD, 2017) and Feedback for Continuous Improvement in the Classroom: New Perspectives, Practices and Possibilities (Corwin, 2023) are both aimed at educators and leaders interested in systemic change and scaling impact with evidence-based assessment for learning practices. His latest book with Dr. Carrie Holmberg AI for Deeper Learning: Promises, Possibilities, and Evolving Practices will be available with Harvard Education Press in spring 2026.

    Dr. Duckor has served on state and national boards providing educational assessment and measurement expertise to the California’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the California Department of Education, the College and Career Readiness Evaluation Consortium for the National Council for Community and Education Partnerships in Washington, D.C.

    Dr. Duckor is a former high school teacher at Central Park East Secondary School, a nationally recognized new urban high school in New York City’s District 4, where he taught History, Economics, and Civics /Government in the Senior Institute.

    For over 30 years, Dr. Duckor has blended his passion for linking policy with practice, and works to inspire new teachers and educational leaders to work closely together on behalf of traditionally underserved students. His research agenda for the Center emphasizes policy impacts of different state-led and local accountability regimes on at-promise children and teens and how teachers, staff, and administrators can empower students through classroom assessment and ambitious teaching practices centered on deeper learning to close opportunity gaps.

    Brent Michael Duckor earned his B.A. in Politics with Honors from UC Santa Cruz in 1987. He obtained a Master of Arts in International Affairs with a business concentration from Columbia University in 1993. Dr. Duckor received his Ph.D. in Quantitative Methods and Evaluation from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Education in 2006.

     

• Dr. Lorri Capizzi, Co-Director IAEP Center

  • Lorri Capizzi, Ed. D., is an Assistant Professor at SJSU’s College of Education, Department of Counselor Education. Her expertise with underserved youth spans K-12 to higher education emphasizing practice-based training and applied research in training school counselors and coordinating internship experiences that impact at-promise children and teens. She is a specialist in the area of foster youth, and has been a consultant to County Offices of Education where she has advised districts on developing Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs).

    Dr. Capizzi has over 15 years of federal grant administration experience and has co-authored and managed multi-million dollar budgets. She has in-depth experience working with schools, districts, and counties serving students in foster care and students experiencing homelessness through her work with Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP). Her training in Counseling and Educational Leadership from San Jose State University and San Francisco State University’s Ed.D. program gives Dr. Capizzi a unique perspective on counseling, advising and guidance rooted in deep expertise with serving underserved communities in Northern California.

    Dr. Capizzi also serves as the faculty advisor for the CSU Guardian Scholars Program for former foster youth in higher education and advises SJSU administration on program design and curriculum development for this program. Her research partnerships/projects have served the California Department of Education, County Offices of Education - Foster and Homeless divisions, California Department of Child and Family Services and The Superior Courts of Santa Clara County.

    Her research agenda for the Center emphasizes new approaches to interprofessional and cross disciplinary school counselor,  social work, and school psychologists preparation that serve at-promise children and teens, particularly foster youth.

    Lorri Midori Capizzi earned her B.A. in Child Development with a minor in special education from San José State University in 1997. She obtained a Master of Arts in education with a concentration in special education in 1998. She obtained a Master of Arts in education with a concentration in counseling and student personnel in 1999. Dr. Capizzi received her Ed.D. in educational leadership from San Francisco State University in 2016.