University of North Texas 
Texas Research and Evaluation Network for Development
TREND is an Educational Research Practitioner-Partnership network for the North Texas, Dallas-Fort-Worth region. With more than 50 independent school districts, several urban and rural community college systems, two regional education service centers and multiple institutions of higher education with an imperative to conduct research, TREND serves to connect all these organizations around a common purpose to help educational practitioners leverage the value of research for educational efficiency and student success.
TREND is very goal-oriented
The Goal of TREND is to support collaborations between education researchers and practitioners to collaboratively examine the efficacy of educational programs and interventions such that evidence about those programs is relevant to populations served in the region. Consequently, the collaborative work of TREND should result in mutually beneficial original research, knowledge and solutions for problems of practice, which ultimately informs policy. We unmistakably emphasize collaborative research on educational programs or interventions that provide evidence of direct causal effects in order to determine the necessity for continuing implementation of promising programs.
TREND is big on collective sharing of ideas
The work of TREND involves nurturing relationships and the crossing of organizational boundaries to provide opportunities for researchers and practitioners to cultivate, support, and maintain collaborations. We do this by facilitating monthly meetings throughout the academic year with the emphasis on meeting and interacting with one another. We invite you to come and find out what problems of practice are at the forefront of our North Texas practitioner colleagues, and to discover the untapped potential that our higher education research community possesses to produce actionable research. We also highlight the interests and problems of researchers and practitioners alike through our podcast, the North Texas Learning Curve, where we interview different researchers and practitioners so that you have an opportunity to learn first-hand what they are up to, their reflection on research, and how research is impacting practice.
Joining TREND is free, and we invite both practitioners from school districts
and other educational institutions, as well as researchers to join us.
Click HERE to join TREND.
Board of Advisors
Dr. Lauren Allen
Coordinator of Research and Evaluation, Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD
Dr. Denisse Avila
Associate Dean of Assessment, Dallas College
Dr. Larry Featherston
Manager of Program Evaluation & Research, Dallas ISD
Ms. Cassandra Hatfield
Research Project Manager in Mathematics Education, SMU, & Carrollton-Farmers Branch
ISD Board of Trustees
Dr. Ben Higgins
Director, Research Policy Performance Evaluation, Commit Partnership
Dr. Luke Hurst
Executive Director of Advanced Academics, Richardson ISD
Ms. Becky Jackson
Director of Assessment and Accountability, McKinney ISD
Mr. Charles R. Stafford
Denton ISD Board of Trustees
Dr. Genea Stewart
Director of Research & Analysis, Arlington ISD
Ms. Kendra Strange
Director, Higher Education for Access and Transition, Communities Foundations of Texas
Higher Education Research Consortium
Dr. Elizabeth L. Adams
Senior Researcher, Education Systems & Policy, American Institutes for Research
Dr. Andryce Clinkscales
Assistant Professor, Department Psychology and Special Education, East Texas A&M
Dr. Danielle Fearon-Drake
Assistant Professor of Instruction, University of Texas at Dallas
Dr. DeMarquis Hayes
Associate Dean, College of Education and Human Services, and Professor, Department
of Psychology and Special Education, East Texas A&M University
Dr. Ben Higgins
Director, Research Policy Performance Evaluation, Commit Partnership
Dr. Gabriel Huddleston
Chair of the Department of Counseling, Societal Change, and Inquiry. Director of the
Center for Public Education and Community Engagement, Texas Christian University
Dr. Bree Jimenez
Department Chair and Professor of Special Education, Baylor University
Dr. Endia J. Lindo
Professor of Special Education, Texas Christian University
Dr. Jin Liu
Associate Professor of Higher Education, Adult Learning and Organizational Studies,
University of Texas, Arlington
Mr. Alain Mota
Design Project Manager, Lyle School of Engineering, Southern Methodist University
Dr. Barbara L. Pazey
Associate Professor of Special Education Administration, University of North Texas
Dr. Danielle Staples
Dean of STEM and Health Science, Tarrant County College
Dr. Lok-Sze Wong
Assistant Professor, Teacher Education and Administration, University of North Texas
Dr. Annie Wright
Executive Director, Center on Research and Evaluation (CORE), Southern Methodist University
DIRECTORS
Dr. Carrie D. Allen
Associate Professor of Learning Sciences, University of North Texas, and Director
of Partnerships for TREND
Dr. Darrell M. Hull
Professor of Research Methodology, Measurement & Statistics, University of North Texas,
and Executive Director of TREND
Dr. Megan Rojo
Assistant Professor of Special Education at the University of North Texas, and Director
of Evaluation and Evidence for TREND
Dr. Stephen Waddell
Executive in Residence Teacher Education and Administration, University of North Texas,
and Director of District Relations for TREND
TREND SCHEDULE
Stay posted for the TREND 2026-27 schedule!