Dr. Kirk Walters

Kirk Walters is a math education researcher whose projects rigorously evaluate the implementation and effects of promising math programs and strengthen connections between research and practice. As a Vice President, Walters leads his own projects and provides strategic direction for mathematics and improvement science content areas. Walters’s projects use various methods and approaches to develop and evaluate interventions to improve math teaching and learning. He currently leads a national impact study of a middle-school math program that promotes math, SEL, and citizenship outcomes, two studies of the implementation and impact of Illustrative Mathematics on teacher and student outcomes, and an R&D study of a video-based professional learning program for math coaches.

Prior to joining WestEd, Walters was a middle and high school math teacher for nearly a decade in urban public schools in the greater Los Angeles and Washington, DC, areas. He believes all math classrooms can and should be laboratories that promote continuous improvement, curiosity, deep understanding, perspective taking, and joy. Kirk received a PhD in social foundations of education from the University of Maryland, an MA in curriculum and instruction from Chapman University, and a BSE in social studies education (minor in mathematics) from John Brown University.