Dr. Courtney Bell is a Professor of Learning Sciences at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She recently served as the first female Director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER), the nation’s oldest and largest university-based education research center. A former high school science teacher, Courtney earned her doctorate at Michigan State University in Curriculum, Teaching and Educational Policy and a B.A. in Chemistry at Dartmouth College. Courtney is passionate about understanding and improving teaching for historically underserved children. Her interdisciplinary collaborative work is situated at the intersections of research, policy and practice – a place where complex educational issues must be addressed with wisdom amidst constraints. She has carried out research on issues spanning parental choice, performance assessments of teaching, international comparisons of teaching, teaching quality, teacher learning, teacher education, and the measurement of teaching. The recipient of a postdoctoral fellowship in measurement from the American Educational Research Association and Educational Testing Service (ETS), she worked for over a decade as a researcher at ETS. Since leaving ETS and joining UW–Madison she has led the international development of two teacher observation systems and supported the launch of the Multilingual Learning Research Center and SimLab, a virtual and mixed-reality simulation lab. She is currently engaged in both national and international studies of teaching, teaching quality, teacher education, and teacher learning.
Education
PhD Curriculum, Teaching, and Educational Policy, Michigan State University, 2004
BA Chemistry, Dartmouth College, 1996
Select Publications
Fütterer, T., Hou, R., Bühler, B., Bozkir, E., Bell, C., Kasneci, E., Gerjets, P., & Trautwein, U. (2026). Validating automated assessments of teaching effectiveness using multimodal data. Learning and Instruction, 101, Article 102264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102264
Bartanen, B., Bell, C., James, J., & Wyckoff, J. (2025). “Refining” our understanding of early career teacher skill development: Evidence from classroom observations. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis (online first). https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737241303146
Bell, C., James, J., Taylor, E., & Wyckoff, J. (2024). Measuring returns to experience using supervisor ratings of observed performance: The case of classroom teachers. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 1-33. Online Publication/Abstract.
Mathews, H., Stark, K., Jones, N., & Bell, C. (2023). Surfacing Principals’ Beliefs About Instruction for Students With Disabilities: A Qualitative Analysis. Exceptional Children, 90(3), 274-294. Online Publication/Abstract.
Bell, C., & Gitomer, D. (2023). Building the field’s knowledge of teaching and learning: Centering the socio-cultural contexts of observation systems to ensure valid score interpretation. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 78 Online Publication/Abstract.
Jones, N., Bell, C., Brownell, M., Qi, Y., Peyton, D., Pua, D., & Holtzman, S. (2022). Using classroom observations in the evaluation of special education teachers. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 44(3), 429-457. Online Publication/Abstract.
Bell, C., Castellano, K., & Klieme, E. (2020). Classroom management. Global teaching insights study policy report (Ch. 3) Paris: OECD Online Publication/Abstract.
Bell, C., Schweig, J., Castellano, K., Klieme, E., & Stecher, B. (2020). Instruction. Global teaching insights study policy report (Ch. 5) Paris: OECD Online Publication/Abstract.
Bell, C., Klieme, E., & Castellano, K. (2020). Social-emotional support. Global teaching insights study policy report (Ch. 4) Paris: OECD Online Publication/Abstract.
Bell, C., Qi, Y., Witherspoon, M., Howell, H., & Torres, M. (2020). The TALIS Video Study observation system. Paris: OECD Online Publication/Abstract.
Select Presentations
Bell, C.A. (February 2, 2026). The intersections of measurement, practice, and research on teaching quality: Tradeoffs to consider. Presentation at the University of Oxford. Oxford, England.
Bell, C.A. (November 15, 2025). Simulation at UW–Madison: 21st century professional learning. Presentation at the Technical University of Germany (TUM). Munich, Germany
Seymour, M. (Director and Producer). (June 17, 2024). In Focus with Courtney Bell: Teachers, students in Wisconsin [Video]. WI Public Broadcasting Service. https://pbswisconsin.org/news-item/in-focus-with-courtney-bell-teachers-students-in-wisconsin/
Seymour, M. (Director and Producer). (September 27, 2023). Wisconsin in black and white: A conversation on racial inequalities and education outcomes [Video]. WI Public Broadcasting Service. https://video.pbswisconsin.org/video/a-conversation-on-racial-inequalities-and-education-outcomes/
Select Awards and Honors
2026-present Trustee, Center for Assessment
2024-present Member/Chair, ISPSR Council
2025 Mercator Fellow, Interfach, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany
2025 Fellow, American Educational Research Association
2021-24 Member, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Equity in PK-12 STEM Education Panel