Lam Pham

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Bio

Lam D. Pham is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development at North Carolina State University. He received his Ph.D. in K-12 Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Vanderbilt University, specializing in quantitative methods. A first generation Vietnamese immigrant, Lam grew up attending schools serving low-income and minority race students. These firsthand experiences shape his research, which investigates how personnel policies (e.g., compensation, professional learning, performance evaluation) affect students in low-performing schools. In particular, he examines policies aimed at building and maintaining an equitable distribution of diverse and effective teachers and principals in chronically low-performing schools. Before his doctoral studies, Lam worked as a Fulbright Scholar in Vietnam, taught math in a turnaround high school in Oklahoma City, and served as an instructional coach for Oklahoma City Public Schools. He received a B.A. in chemistry from Harvard University.

Selected Scholarly Publications

• Pham, L. D., Matthews, G. F., Drake, T. A. (2024) Beyond Prescriptive Reforms: An Examination of North Carolina’s Flexible School Restart Program. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737231218735
• Pham, L. D. (2023). Teachers are Not Lemons: An Examination of Spillover Effects when Teachers Transfer Away from Turnaround Schools. Educational Researcher. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X231175148
• Pham, L. D. (2021). Why Do We Find these Effects? An Examination of Mediating Pathways Explaining the Effects of School Turnaround. Journal of Research in Educational Effectiveness. https://doi.org/10.1080/19345747.2022.2081276 
• Pham, L. D., Nguyen, T. D., & Springer, M. G. (2020). Teacher Merit Pay: A Meta-Analysis. American Educational Research Journal. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831220905580
• Pham, L. D., Henry, G. T., Kho, A., & Zimmer, R. (2020). Sustainability and Maturation of School Turnaround: A Multiyear Evaluation of Tennessee’s Achievement School District and Local Innovation Zones. AERA Open. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858420922841

Courses Taught

•  Applied Quantitative Methods in Education I
•  Applied Quantitative Methods in Education II

Honors and Awards

• Emerging Scholar Award, AERA School Turnaround and Reform Special Interest Group
• Fulbright Fellowship, Vietnam
• Equity and Inclusion Fellowship, Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management
• Barbara L. Jackson Scholar, University Council for Educational Administration
• Russell G. Hamilton Dissertation Enhancement Grant

Area(s) of Expertise

education policy, quantitative analysis, school reform, teachers and leaders

Publications

• Beyond Prescriptive Reforms: An Examination of North Carolina's Flexible School Restart Program , EDUCATIONAL EVALUATION AND POLICY ANALYSIS (2024)
• Teachers Are Not Lemons: An Examination of Spillover Effects When Teachers Transfer Away From Turnaround Schools , Educational Researcher (2023)
• Beyond Prescriptive Reforms: An Examination of North Carolina’s Flexible School Restart Program , AEFP 47th Annual Conference (2022)
• Covid-19 and the system resilience of public education: A view from North Carolina , The Learning Curve (2022)
• Development and Validation of a Tool to Examine Program-Wide Implementation of the Pyramid Model , JOURNAL OF POSITIVE BEHAVIOR INTERVENTIONS (2022)
• Implementing School Improvement in the “iZone 2.0”: A Case Study of Three Memphis Schools , (2022)
• Is Teacher Effectiveness Stable Across School Contexts? An Examination of Teachers Who Transfer Into Turnaround Schools , AERA OPEN (2022)
• Over the Long-Haul: Examining the Long-Term Effects of the School Turnaround , (2022)
• Program-wide implementation of the Pyramid Model: Supporting fidelity at the program and classroom levels , EARLY CHILDHOOD RESEARCH QUARTERLY (2022)
• Spillover Effects of Recruiting Teachers for School Turnaround: Evidence From Tennessee , EDUCATIONAL EVALUATION AND POLICY ANALYSIS (2022)

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