SESP Faculty

Dr. Kavita Kapadia Matsko

Faculty Profile

Kavita Kapadia Matsko is an associate professor and associate dean for teacher education in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. She has worked in the field of education in the Chicagoland area for over 25 years, wearing multiple hats including: teacher, mentor, teacher educator, residency director, and researcher. Her research interests focus on the study of teacher education, mentoring, and new teacher induction, with a particular interest in the clinical features of preparation that promote teacher readiness and equitable teaching. She is currently working on research projects which examine mentor teachers’ tacit beliefs about student-teacher learning, the role of context in teacher education, and how aspiring teachers begin to take up ideas about equitable teaching and learning.

Matsko and colleagues recently received the 2022 Outstanding Article Award from the Journal of Teacher Education for work from the “Chicago Teaching Pathways” project for which she was the principal investigator. Prior to joining Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy, Matsko was associate professor and director of innovation and research at the National College of Education at National Louis University in Chicago. Matsko also served as the founding director of the University of Chicago’s Urban Teacher Education Program (UTEP) and as clinical faculty for the Committee on Education. 

Teacher education, mentoring, and induction; clinical preparation; features of preparation that promote candidate learning and teacher effectiveness

• 2022 – American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE): Outstanding Article, Journal of Teacher Education
• 2015 – American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE): Outstanding Article, Journal of Teacher Education
• 2008 – American Education Research Association (AERA/Division H): Outstanding Publication Informing School Policy/Program Evaluation
• 2004 – Charles Bidwell Education Award, University of Chicago
• 2003 – Spencer Foundation Pre–Dissertation Fellowship Award

Matsko, Kavita. K., Hammerness, K., & Lee, R. (2022). Learning in Context and Practicing in Place: Engaging Preservice Teachers in Context-Specific Urban Teacher Education. Urban education. 

Matsko, Kavita K., Ronfeldt, M., & Greene H. (2021). How Different Are They? Comparing Preparation Offered by Traditional, Alternative, and Residency Pathways. Journal of teacher education. 

Ronfeldt , M., Matsko, K. K., Greene Nolan, H., & Reininger, M. (2021). Three different perspectives on graduates’ instructional readiness and the features of preparation that predict them. Journal of teacher education.

Hammerness, K., McDonald, S., Matsko, K. K., & Stroupe, D. (2020). “How do teachers learn to teach science in ambitious and equitable ways?” in Preparing science teachers through practice-based teacher education by Harvard Education Press. David Stroupe and Karen Hammerness (eds).  

Hong, Y., & Matsko, K.K. (2020). Looking Inside and Outside of Mentoring: Effects of New Teacher Commitment to School. American education research journal.

Gordon, M.F., Jiang, J.Y., Matsko, K.K., Ronfeldt, M., Greene Nolan, H.G., & Reininger, M. (2018). On the path to becoming a teacher: The landscape of student teaching in Chicago Public Schools. Consortium on Chicago School Research.

Matsko, Kavita K., Ronfeldt, M., Greene H., Klugman, J., Reininger, M., &  Brockman S. (2018). Cooperating Teacher as Model and Coach: What Leads to Student Teachers’ Perceptions of Preparedness? Journal of teacher education.

Matsko, Kavita. K., & Hammerness, K. (2014). Unpacking the “Urban” in Urban Teacher Education: Making a Case for Context-Specific Preparation. Journal of teacher education, 65(2), 128-144.

Matsko, Kavita K., & Hammerness, K. (2014). Preparing Teachers for the Chicago Public Schools. In Sharon Feiman–Nemser, Eran Tamir, Karen Hammerness, (Eds.), Inspiring Teaching: Preparing Teachers to Succeed in Mission–Driven Schools. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Educational Press.

Hammerness, K., & Matsko, K.K. (2013). When Context Has Content: A Case Study of New Teacher Induction in the University of Chicago’s Urban Teacher Education Program. Urban Education, 48(4), 557-584.

Wechsler, M. E., Caspary, K., Humphrey, D. C., & Matsko, K. K. (2012). Examining the effects of new teacher induction. Teachers College Record. Volume 114 Number 14, p 387-416.

Sartain, L., Stoelinga, S., Brown, E., Luppescu, S., & Matsko, K.K. (2011). Rethinking Teacher Evaluation. Findings from the Excellence in Teaching Pilot in Chicago Public Schools. Consortium on Chicago School Research.

Matsko, Kavita K. (2010). Moving beyond the Surface of Induction: Examining the Impact of Specific Mentoring and School-Based Supports on Beginning Teachers in Chicago. ERS Spectrum: 1-16.

Wechsler, M. E., Caspary, K., Humphrey, D. C., & Matsko, K. K. (2010). Examining the effects of new teacher induction.SRI International.

Stanton, L., & Matsko, K. K. (2010). Developing Human Capital Metrics. In Rachel Curtis, & Judy Wurtzel (Eds.), Teaching Talent. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Educational Press.

Kapadia, Kavita, & Coca, V., with John Q. Easton. (2007). Keeping New Teachers: A First Look at Induction in Chicago. Consortium on Chicago School Research.