Abeer Hakouz.

Abeer Hakouz, M.B.A.

Doctoral Candidate

Pronouns
She/Her
College
Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (FAHSS)
Department
School of Education, Center for Program Evaluation
Office
150 Wilder Street
Email
abeer_hakouz@student.uml.edu
Links

Expertise

Program evaluation, research on evaluation, school quality and improvement, educators’ professional development, and AI in academia and evaluation

Research Interests

My research focuses on enhancing the value and impact of educational initiatives through program evaluation and research on evaluation, and the responsible use of AI. I am particularly interested in how monitoring and evaluation capacity building supports school quality and improvement planning efforts and facilitates educators’ professional development. Through my work, I aim to advance collaborative, data-informed approaches that foster continuous improvement, organizational learning, and sustainable change in educational systems.

Education

  • Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Candidate: Research and Evaluation in Education, University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA, expected Spring 2026.
  • Professional Diploma from the International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET), Carleton University, Canada.
  • Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) in Finance, New York Institute of Technology (NYiT), USA
  • Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Accounting, Al-Zaytoonah Private University of Jordan, Jordan
  • Associate Degree in Information Technology, Princess Sarvath College, Jordan

Biosketch

Abeer Hakouz is a doctoral candidate in the Ph.D. program in Research and Evaluation in Education, where she works with the UMass Lowell Center for Program Evaluation and the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment (MCIEA). Her research focuses on enhancing the value and impact of educational initiatives through program evaluation and research on evaluation. She is particularly interested in how monitoring and evaluation, responsible use of AI in research and evaluation, and data use capacity building support school quality and improvement planning, and facilitate professional development among educators. Through her work, she aims to advance collaborative, data-informed approaches and the establishment of monitoring and evaluation systems in schools that foster continuous improvement, organizational learning, and sustainable change in educational systems.

Abeer brings over 20 years of professional experience in monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning in the development sector, with a focus on pre-kindergarten to 12th grade (pre-K-12) education. She is a graduate of the International Program for Development Evaluation Training (IPDET). Her work spans the public sector, Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and local and international organizations, where she has led and supported numerous research, evaluation, and capacity-building initiatives aimed at improving program effectiveness and organizational learning. She is a co-founder of the Jordan Development Evaluation Association (EvalJordan) and an active member in a number of global networks like EvalMENA, the International Development Evaluation Association (IDEAS), the EvalGender+ management group, the American Evaluation Association, the American Educational Research Association, and the UMass Amherst of Educational Policy, where she supports advancing

Selected Publications

Selected Presentations

  • 2025, American Educational Research Association (AERA): Towards Responsible Generative AI in Academia: Synthesizing AI Policies for Manuscript and Proposal Writing in Educational Research Field.
  • 2024, International Conference on Business, Politics, Technologies and Law (ICBPTL): Knowledge acquisition, its influence on organizational learning and innovation.
  • 2024, American Educational Research Association (AERA): Understanding School Principals’ Perspectives about School Improvement Planning.
  • 2024, American Educational Research Association (AERA): Using Emotions as Data in Qualitative Analysis.
  • 2023, University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA): Understanding School Improvement Planning in Practice.
  • 2023, University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA): Identifying and Addressing Leaders’ Learning Needs to Develop Mindsets for Continuous Improvement.
  • 2023, University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA): Understanding Data Use and School Improvement.
  • 2023, University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA): Towards a Model of Culturally Responsive School Leadership.
  • 2023, American Educational Research Association (AERA): Putting Feelings Where They’re Useful: Piloting a Technique for Coding Emotions.
  • 2023, American Educational Research Association (AERA): Identifying and Addressing Leaders’ Learning Needs to Develop Mindsets for Continuous Improvement.
  • 2023, American Educational Research Association (AERA): You Can’t Just “Slap a Circle on it”: Recommendations from Restorative Coordinators.
  • 2022, American Evaluation Association (AEA): Empowerment Evaluation on a Time Budget.
  • 2022, American Evaluation Association (AEA): What Contribution the Jordanian Evaluation Association Offers to Evaluation Capacity Building: The Case of EvalJordan.
  • 2022, International Development Evaluation Association (IDEAS): Equity-Focused and Gender-Responsive Evaluation: An Evolving Practice in the Reporting of the VNRs.
  • 2021, British Educational Research Association (BERA): We Now Know How to Learn - Preservice Teacher Preparation in Jordan.
  • 2020, Arab Gulf Teacher Forum: Hybrid and Online Learning.
  • 2020, Middle East and North Africa Evaluation Network (EvalMENA): Equity-Focused and Gender-Responsive Evaluation.
  • 2019, American Evaluation Association (AEA): The Impact of Instructional leadership - School leaders Preparation in Jordan.
  • 2019, Middle East and North Africa Evaluation Network (EvalMENA): Equity-Focused and Gender-Responsive Evaluation.

Research Currently in Progress

  • Understanding School Principals’ Perspectives about School Improvement Planning. Under peer-review process.
  • Empowering Change: Evaluating School Improvement Planning and Building Evaluation Capacity Through Empowerment Evaluation. Dissertation work.
  • Planning With Purpose: The Impact of MCIEA/SQM Data Use on School Improvement Planning. Design phase.