Robin Martin
Director of Educational Research and Evaluation
Robin Martin joined the UC Davis School of Education in 2016 as the Director of Educational Research and Evaluation. She brings more than two decades of experience leading large- and small-scale research and evaluation studies across K–12, higher education, and public sector contexts. With a strong background in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, she offers extensive expertise in research and evaluation design, measurement, project management, mixed-methods analytics, and dissemination of findings.
Robin works collaboratively with university faculty, public agencies, and community partners by drawing from multiple disciplinary perspectives to ensure that research and evaluation efforts are contextually grounded, responsive to stakeholder needs, and offer actionable insights to support continuous improvement and strengthen program and policy development.
Her portfolio includes federally funded studies through the U.S. Department of Education and the National Science Foundation, as well as statewide and institutional evaluations. She has directed rigorous experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations of federally funded initiatives focused on computer science pathways in rural schools, teacher professional learning, and graduate education pathways in STEM.
Prior to joining UC Davis, she served in both K-12 policy organizations and public school districts, providing leadership with strategically planning, executing, and evaluating a diversity of educational policies, programs and initiatives, and developing performance metrics and accountability frameworks.
Research Interests
Applied research. Implementation evaluation. Innovative use of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Integration of research into practice and the influence of contextual factors on change and uptake of practice. Teacher professional development.
Professional Experience
2016-present: REEd Center, School of Education, UC Davis, Director Educational Research & Evaluation
2014-2016: Sacramento City Unified School District, Strategy and Innovation Office, Director III
2003-2014: Elk Grove Unified School District, Research & Evaluation Department, Program Administrator
2002-2003: Elk Grove Unified School District, Research & Evaluation Department, Research Analyst
2001-2002: California School Boards Association, Legislative Analyst
Research and Evaluation
Lead Evaluator: College Opportunity Programs. Upward Bound ($8.7M; 2022-2027);
Lead Evaluator: College Opportunity Programs. Educational Talent Search (ETS) ($4.8M; 2021-2026)
Lead Evaluator: College Opportunity Programs. GEAR UP ($19.9M; 2019-2026);
Research Lead: National Science Foundation Discovery Research PreK-12 Program. Testing the Efficacy of the Essential Practices for Math Professional Learning Model, (2018-2025: $4.9M).
Lead Evaluator: U.S. Department of Education, Education Innovation and Research Grant. Creating Computer Science Pathways in Rural California, (2019-2025: $3.9M)
Lead Evaluator: Continuing and Professional Education, UC Davis. CPE Degree Program Descriptive Study (2024-2025).
Research Analyst: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Educational Services. Paths to the Future. Goal Three: Efficacy and Replication, (2015-2019: $3.5 M).
Lead Evaluator: UC Davis Office of Graduate Studies: UC-LSAMP Bridge to Doctorate Program Evaluation, National Science Foundation (2016-2018: $1.M)
Lead Evaluator: UC Davis: ADVANCE UC-LSAMP Program Evaluation, National Science Foundation (2016-2018: $3.9M)
Research Director: U.S. Department of Education: Improving Teacher Quality Grant. Resourcing Integrated Professional Learning Systems. (2016-2018: $5.8 M)
Research Manager: U.S. Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquisition. Building District Capacity to Support Mentors and Teachers in the Academic Language and Literacy Development of Young English Learners. (2016-2021: $2.5M)
Evaluation Team Lead: California Department of Corrections. Evaluation of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Career Technical Education Program. (2016-2017: $500,000)
Publications and Presentations
Jimenez-Silva, M., Martin, R., Restani, R., Abdelrahim, S., & Albano, T. (2025). Supporting Multilingual Students’ Mathematical Discourse through Teacher Professional Development Grounded in Design-Based Research: A Conceptual Framework. Education Sciences, 15(6), 778. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15060778
Jimenez-Silva, M., Abdelrahim, S., Restani, R., Martin, R., & Albano, T. (2025) Leveraging Children’s Multicultural Literature to Support Students’ Math Identity and Problem Solving.” Teaching for Excellence and Equity in Mathematics. [Accepted]
Restani, R., Ambrose, R., Martin, R., Jimenez-Silva, M., Abdelrahim, S., Xu, X., Huynh, A., & Albano, A. Using Partner Interviews to Support Language and Mathematics Development for Elementary Multilingual Learners. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education. [Manuscript under review]
Restani, R., Ambrose, R., Albano, T., Jimenez-Silva, M., Martin, R., & Abdelrahim, S. Learning Fractions Through Partner Interactions: Using Participation Profiles to Analyze Mathematical Understandings of Multilingual Elementary Students. Journal of Mathematical Behavior. [Manuscript under review]
Martin, R., (2025). Evaluating What Works in Rural: Fidelity vs Fit in STEM-based Instructional Implementations. Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on Education. Honolulu, HI.
Restani, R., Jimenez-Silva, M., Albano, T., Abdelrahim, S., Ambrose, R., & Martin, R. (2024). Following a conversation script: addressing the discord of the impact of language supports in peer interactions for multilingual students. In T. Evans, O. Marmur, J. Hunter, & G. Leach (eds.). Proceedings of the 47th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, New Zealand, (Vol. 1, pp. 205).
Restani, R., Jimenez-Silva, M., Albano, T. Abdelrahim, S., Martin, R., & Ambrose, R. (2024). Engaging multilingual students in frequent and supported opportunities for discourse to strengthen their mathematical thinking. In J. Višňovská, E. Ross, & S. Getenet (Eds.), Surfing the waves of mathematics education. Proceedings of the 46th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Australia, (pp. 439–446).
Martin, R., O’Hara, S., Bookmyer, J. (2020). Identifying High-Impact Practices of Learning Communities that Foster Collective Professional Growth. The New Educator, 16:4, pp. 296-312.
O’Hara, S., Bookmyer, J., Pritchard, R., & Martin, R. (2020). Mentoring secondary novice teachers to develop the academic language of English language learners. Journal of Educational Research and Practice, 10, 26–40.
O’Hara, S., Bookmyer, J., Martin, R., et al., (2018). Theory of Action for Resourcing Professional Growth. Journal of Professional Capital and Community, 4:1, pp.52-65.
O’Hara, S., Bookmyer, J., Martin, R., et al., (2018). Building a Teacher Professional Growth System. Leadership Magazine, 47:4, 38-42.
Martin, R., O’Hara, S., Bookmyer, J., & Newton, R. (2018). Resourcing Professional Growth to Reduce Teacher Turnover. REEd Center Issue Briefs.
O’Hara, S., Martin, R., et al. (2017). From Incarceration to the Workforce: Evaluation of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Career Technical Education Program. Submitted: California State Legislature.
Presentations
Restani, R., Martin, R., Jimenez-Silva, M., Abdelrahim, S., Ambrose, R., Hunter, J., & Albano, T. (2025). Mathematical Rigor, Linguistic Scaffolds, Cultural Responsiveness: Working Toward a Common Goal of Deepening Student Interactions. Roundtable session presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association. Denver, CO.
Martin, R., (2025). Evaluating What Works in Rural: Fidelity vs Fit in STEM-based Instructional Implementations. Presentation at the 2025 Hawaii International Conference on Education. Honolulu, HI.
Albano, A., Rios, O., Xu, X, Jimenez-Silva, M., Abdelrahim, S., Restani, R., & Martin, R. (2025). Translanguaging and extending the repertoire of supports in standardized testing. Presentation at the 2025 Hawaii International Conference on Education. Honolulu, HI.
Abdelrahim, S., Restani, R., Jimenez-Silva, M., Martin, R., & Albano, A. (2025). Addressing the discord: Affordances and limitations of language supports during multilingual peer interactions in math. Presentation at the 2025 Hawaii International Conference on Education. Honolulu, HI.
Restani, R., Ambrose, R., Abdelrahim, S., Jimenez-Silva, M., Albano, T., & Martin, R. (2024). Exploring multilingual children’s conversations with peers about equal-sharing fraction problems. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association. Philadelphia, PA.
Education
M.A. (2001) Politics and Education, Columbia University, Teachers
College
Emphasis: Program Evaluation
B.A. (1998) English, California State University, Sacramento
Emphasis: Composition and Rhetoric
Affiliations
American Educational Research Association
Member, Kappa Delta Pi, International Honor Society in
Education
Society for Research on Educational
Effectiveness
