Christina E. Murdoch
Executive Director, Center for Applied Policy in Education (CAP-Ed)
Center for Applied Policy in Education (CAP-Ed)
Christina E. Murdoch serves as Executive Director of the Center for Applied Policy in Education within the UC Davis School of Education. Her primary areas of research and engagement with the field include education leadership, policy and practice with an emphasis in collaborative networks and a collective inquiry model for systems improvement. She joined the School of Education in Fall 2012.
Dr. Murdoch develops and directs professional learning networks for school district superintendents, principals and teachers including the following:
• California Superintendents Collaborative Network
• Superintendents’ Executive Leadership Forum (SELF)
• 21CSLA Principals’ Collaborative Support Network
• Shared Leadership Collaborative
• California Institute for School Improvement
These programs support and develop shared leadership capacity through a networked approach to professional collaboration and applied practice that are focused on creating the conditions that lead to improved instruction and educational outcomes for diverse students.
In this capacity, leaders in the field of educational research serve as guest faculty for CAP-Ed’s programs including Dr. Tom Many, Dr. Michael Fullan, Dr. Meredith Honig, Dr. Charles Payne, Dr. Marguerite Roza, Dr. James W. Popham, Dr. David Cohen, Dr. Larry Cuban and others.
Christina earned her doctorate from the University of California Davis, School of Education. Drawing on her work with leaders in educational systems research and knowledge from education leaders in the field, Christina’s doctoral research explored the development and evolution of state education policy, Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAP), as the Local Control Funding Formula was implemented in California. Since 2012, Christina has raised more than $6 million in support of CAP-Ed’s programs working with districts systems and schools across California.
Christina earned her Ed.D. from the University of California Davis, School of Education in 2017. Drawing on her work with leaders in educational research as well as district and school leaders, Christina’s doctoral research explored the development and evolution of Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAP) as the Local Control Funding Formula was implemented in California. As a representative of Global Affairs at UC Davis,
Christina has collaborated with colleagues at universities in Chile, South Africa, Scotland, Belgium and Germany. Awarded a Global Affairs grant to collaborate with members of Bavarian Parliament in 2023, Christina has presented on CAP-Ed’s work at UC Berkeley, University of Glasgow, Scotland, and University of Antwerp, Belgium. She is a member of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement and the American Education Research Association.
Prior to joining the School of Education, Christina completed an MFA in Painting and Drawing and MA in Aesthetic Theory at the University of Montana in 2009; her writing has been cited in the Educational Policy, Journal of Arts and Humanities, Frontiers in Psychology and the Journal of African Art Education. Her friendship with Agnes Martin in Taos, NM had a profound influence on her scholarship, her artwork, and her career.
A Sacramento native educated in South Sacramento public schools and an all-girls college preparatory Catholic school, Christina returned to Northern California after living in Missoula, MT, Boston, MA, New York, NY, Taos, NM, San Diego, CA and Nairobi, Kenya where she studied as an undergraduate at the University of Nairobi.
Education
Doctorate in Educational Leadership, University of California Davis
MFA, Painting and Drawing, University of Montana, Missoula
MA, Art History – Aesthetic Theory, University of Montana, Missoula
MFA Thesis: Mills, Christina Murdoch, “The Enigma of the Everyday” (2009). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 1292. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/1292
MA Thesis: Mills, Christina Murdoch, “Materiality as the
Basis for the Aesthetic Experience in Contemporary Art”
(2009). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, &
Professional Papers. 1289.
https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/1289
BA Third World Literature, University of California, San Diego; University of Nairobi — Nairobi, Kenya
Making Grades Work for Every Student
UC Davis Researchers Partner with San Benito High School District to Refine Student Support Model
The San Benito High School District is collaborating with UC Davis scholars to establish a research-practice partnership (RPP) that embeds inquiry directly into the practice of equitably supporting students. Prof. Megan Welsh and Dr. Christina Murdoch are collaborating with Superintendent Dr. Shawn Tennenbaum, Assistant Superintendent Elaine Klauer, Director of Specialized Student Services and Special Education Dr. Paulette Cobb, Principal Kevin Medeiros, and Assistant Principal Derek Barnes to examine how their student support model functions in practice—and how it can be strengthened to reach the students who need it most.
