Dan Berebitsky

Assistant Professor

Ph.D., University of Michigan
3101 University Blvd, Ste.306,
Dallas, 75205
Box 750114
214-768-8252
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Dr. Dan Berebitsky is an Assistant Professor in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education, specializing in Leadership and Policy. He received his B.S. in General Physics, M.A. in Research Methods, and Ph.D. in Educational Administration and Policy, all from the University of Michigan. Dr. Berebitsky taught high school and middle school at the Thomas Jefferson School in St. Louis, MO, where he taught AP Physics, Precalculus, Geometry, and Earth Science. At the University of Michigan, Dr. Berebitsky assisted in the teaching of graduate level courses in Quantitative Research Methods. His teaching load at SMU includes doctoral courses in Policy Analysis and Organizational Theory.

Dr. Berebitsky’s scholarly interests focus on the relationship between the organizational context of a school (e.g., socio-demographics of the student body, school culture, state/district policy) and the work of the principal as an instructional leader. He concentrates on the bi-directional nature of the relationship, as the principal can affect many aspects of the organizational context (e.g., pressing teachers to raise student achievement, building trusting relationships, reaching out to parents), and conversely, the organizational context can affect the work of the instructional leader (e.g., the level of trust that teachers have in the principal may influence how receptive teachers are to the principal’s instructional feedback).

While at the University of Michigan, Dr. Berebitsky worked on a number of projects including the Michigan Study of the Transition from Elementary to Middle School (principal investigator, Dr. Roger Goddard) and the evaluation of Reading First in Michigan (principal investigator, Dr. Joanne Carlisle). Dr. Berebitsky also continues to work with the Middle School Mathematics and the Institutional Setting of Teaching project (Principal Investigators: Dr. Paul Cobb and Dr. Thomas Smith) at Vanderbilt University. From these projects, Dr. Berebitsky has published multiple articles including a paper on the relationship between organizational trust and student achievement that received the William J. Davis Award for most outstanding paper published in Educational Administration Quarterly in 2009.

Selected Publications:

Berebitsky, D., Goddard, R. D., Neumerski, C. & Salloum, S.J. (in press). The influence of academic press on students’ mathematics and reading achievement. In DiPaola, M. F. & Forsyth, P. B. (Eds.), Contemporary Challenges Confronting School Leaders. Charlotte: Information Age.

Carlisle, J., Kelcey, B., Berebitsky, D., and Phelps, G. (2011). Embracing the Complexity of Instruction: A Study of the Effects of Teachers’ Instruction on Students’ Reading Comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading. 15 (5), 409-439.

Carlisle, J. and Berebitsky, D. (2011). Literacy Coaching as a Component of Professional Development. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal. 24 (7), 773-800.

Goddard, Y., Neumerski, C., Goddard, R., Salloum, S., and Berebitsky, D. (2010). A Multilevel Exploratory Study of the Relationship Between Teachers’ Perceptions of Principals’ Instructional Support and Group Norms for Instruction in Elementary Schools. Elementary School Journal. 111 (2), p. 336-357.

Goddard, R., Salloum, S., and Berebitsky, D. (2009). Trust as a mediator of the relationships between academic achievement, poverty and minority status: Evidence from Michigan’s public elementary schools. Educational Administration Quarterly. 45 (2), p. 292-311.

Selected Presentations:

Berebitsky, D. and Larson, C. (2011). Teacher Advice Seeking: Relating Centrality and Expertise in Middle School Mathematics Social Networks. Paper to be presented at the annual meeting of the University Council for Educational Administration, Denver, CO.

Berebitsky, D., Henrick, E., Boston, M., and Larbi-Cherif, A. (2011) Developing School Leaders’ Instructional Leadership Through Content-Specific Professional Development. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the University Council for Educational Administration, Pittsburgh, PA.

Berebitsky, D. (2009). The Influence of Graduation Requirements on Course-Taking Patterns in Mathematics. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.

Berebitsky, D., Goddard, R., Carlisle, J., and Feng, D. (2009). Examining the Association Between Principals’ Support for Change and Teachers’ Communication Around Literacy in Michigan’s Reading First Schools. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA.

Berebitsky, D. (2008). The Impact of Professional Communities on Teachers and Students: A Multilevel Examination in Reading First Schools. Poster presented at the Clark Seminar at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY.

Berebitsky, D. (2007). Graduation Requirements, Course-Taking, and Mathematics Achievement: A Multilevel Analysis. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the University Council for Educational Administration, Washington, D.C.

Berebitsky, D., Goddard, R., Neumerski, C., Salloum, S., Leahy, D. (2007) Academic Emphasis Among Teachers and its Influence on Student Achievement: A Multilevel Examination. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.