Diana Sharp

Diana Sharp is a Senior Research Associate at RMC Research Corporation. She supports the Gulf Comprehensive Center’s work with Florida and Mississippi in the Reducing Chronic Absenteeism and Increasing Student Engagement Project, which provides SEA staff with capacity-building and technical assistance focused on the use of early warning systems and evidence-based interventions for addressing chronic absenteeism. She also works with the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Southeast. She served for three years as RMC’s REL Southeast Project Director, and she currently manages the REL’s work with Florida Virtual School, providing their LEA staff, teachers, and coaches with intensive capacity-building and technical assistance around the adaptation of evidence-based family involvement materials for use in online learning environments with elementary students who struggle in literacy and math. In 2013, Diana created the Fascinate Forward project, a Tampa initiative to help low-income families build their children’s early language and literacy skills through visits to museums, zoos, libraries, and other cultural venues. This work resulted in community partnerships and an ongoing summer program for low-income families, now in its tenth year. Prior to joining RMC, Diana spent 13 years on the research faculty of Vanderbilt University’s Learning Technology Center, where she was the Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on multiple projects funded by federal and private grants. She also formed a consulting company for educational leaders. She has extensive dissemination experience, writing peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, IES publications, education newspaper and magazine articles for teachers and literacy leaders, white papers, curriculum materials, and blogs, creating infographics and videos, and presenting at local and national conferences. She has been quoted as an expert in virtual education and educational technology in Chalkbeat, Education Week, The Hechinger Report, and The Washington Post. 

EDUCATION: Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Vanderbilt University; B.A. in Psychology from Dickinson College

AREA OF EXPERTISE: Literacy, personalized learning, technology support for learning, family and community partnerships