Hunter, Seth
Dr. Seth B. Hunter
PhD, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University
Assistant Professor
Education Leadership , PhD in Education
Education Leadership
Phone: (703) 993-4485
Fax: (703) 993-3643
Email: shunte (@gmu.edu)
George Mason University
Fairfax Campus
Thompson Hall 1306
4400 University Dr.
MS 4C2
Fairfax, VA 22030
Dr. Seth B Hunter is an Assistant Professor of Education Leadership with Mason affiliations in Research Methods and Education Policy. He is also a Senior Fellow at EdPolicyForward, the Center for Education Policy at Mason, and a Fellow with the Tennessee Education Research Alliance, a partnership among Vanderbilt University, the Tennessee Department of Education, and other researchers. His research interests concern educator and organizational effectiveness, focusing on the intersection of educator (i.e., teacher, principal, instructional coach) professional development and evaluation. To explore these topics, Dr. Hunter applies multiple methods (econometric, psychometric, descriptive, and qualitative) and draws on multiple frameworks (psychological, economic, leadership, management, and educational). Dr. Hunter's work appears in several top education and education leadership journals, including Educational Researcher, Education Administration Quarterly, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, and the American Journal of Education.
Before his academic career, Dr. Hunter worked/ served in various K-12 organizations, including the Kentucky Department of Education as a field agent supporting teacher leaders, principals, and superintendents; the Kentucky Council of Teachers of Mathematics as President; the Kentucky Education Association as State Representative; and classroom teacher of middle and high school students.
Dr. Hunter has advised the Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia Departments of Education, a multistate rurally-focused teacher evaluation organization in the Midwestern USA, and several school districts on education policy and practice matters.
Dr. Hunter is happily married to Dr. Amy English Hunter, and they are the proud parents of two children. Aside from his love of work and family, Dr. Hunter also loves barbecuing, ice hockey, puzzles, interesting foods, and many kinds of music.
Practices and policies concerning educator evaluation and observation
Instructional coaching for school improvement
Education policy
Instructional leadership
Machine learning
Publications in last three calendar years. See CV section for more information.
* student co-author
Redding, C., Tan, T.* & Hunter, S. B. (In Press). Documenting the Distribution of Instructional Coaching Programs. Educational Researcher.
Hunter, S. B. (2023). The (In)Consistency of Teacher Survey Responses About Teacher Evaluation Implementation: Implications for Principal Professional Development. Educational Researcher. 52(8), 512-515.
Hunter, S. B. & Redding, C. (2023). Examining the Presence and Equitable Distribution of Instructional Coaching Programs and Coaches’ Teaching Expertise Across Tennessee Schools. Educational Policy, 37(4), 1151-1178.
Redding, C. & Hunter, S. B. (2023). The Labor Market Trajectories of Instructional Coaches and Teacher Peer Observers. American Journal of Education, 129(3), 413-443.
Viano, S., Rodriguez, L., & Hunter, S. B. (2023). Supervisor and Employee Shared Race and Gender Intersections: Towards a Critical Representative Bureaucracy Theory. AERA Open. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584221148156
Hunter, S. B. (2023). Explaining Variation in the Implementation of Classroom Observational Processes: Evidence from a Tennessee-Based Researcher-Practitioner Partnership. Journal of Educational Administration, 61(1), 16-40.
Hunter, S. B. (2023). Do you mean what I mean? Comparing teacher performance self-scores and evaluator-generated scores. Journal of Education Human Resources, 41(2), 210 – 250.
Hunter, S. B. (2022). High-Leverage Teacher Evaluation Practices for Instructional Improvement. Educational Management Administration and Leadership. doi.org/10.1177/17411432221112995
Hunter, S. B. & Springer, M. (2022). Performance Feedback, Human Capital, and Teacher Performance: A Mixed-Methods Analysis. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 44(3), 380-403.
Hunter, S. B. & Rodriguez, L. (2021). Examining the Demands of Teacher Evaluation: Time Use, Strain, and Turnover Among Tennessee School Administrators. Journal of Educational Administration, 59(6), 739-758.
Rodriguez, L. & Hunter, S. B. (2021). Making do: Why do administrators retain low-performing teachers?. Educational Researcher, 50(9), 673-676.
Cravens, X. & Hunter, S. B. (2021). Assessing the impact of collaborative inquiry on teacher performance and effectiveness. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 32(4), 564-606.
Hunter, S. B. & Ege, A.* (2021). Linking student outcomes to school administrator discretion in the implementation of teacher observations. Education Administration Quarterly, 57(4), 607-640.