Joel Sebastian is the Director of Innovative Partnerships at the Center on Human Development. He earned his doctorate in Educational Methodology, Leadership, and Pedagogy from the University of Oregon in 2020. His research interests focused on using interim assessment information to impact student achievement. Joel has held several school leadership positions in the Portland Metro area, including building principal at the secondary level for 22 years. His education career began nearly 30 years ago as a special education teacher in southeast Los Angeles. Joel has received several statewide awards, including the Administrator of the Year (2011, OMSEA) and Peace Educator of the Year (2019, WPI).
Joel’s previous work also included leading the Willamette Promise Post-Secondary Pathways program. In this role, he coordinated Oregon’s most extensive dual credit program with two university partners, enrolling thousands of high school students and transcribing over 30,000 college credits in the 23/24 school year. He also led the Willamette Career Connected Learning team, which brings the world of work and industry into the classroom through Industry Chats, internships, job expos, and other activities.
Joel has served on several nonprofit boards and has been an active board member of the World Salmon Council since 2017. Joel is often on local rivers and streams, fly fishing with his youngest son, Isaac. Joel and his spouse of nearly 30 years, Amy, enjoy travel and gardening together. They share their home with two fantastic rescue dogs, Minnie and Iris.
Doctor of Education: Methodology, Policy & Leadership- 2020
University of Oregon
Master of Arts, Special Education- 1999
California State University, Long Beach
Bachelor of Science, Physical Education- 1996
California State University, Long Beach
Oregon Administrator of the Year- 2011 (Oregon Music Education Association)
Oregon Peace Educator of the Year- 2019 (Wholistic Peace Institute)
Joel has joined the Center on Human Development's PeerLearning.net (PL) project. PL's Principal Researcher, Dr. Mark Van Ryzin have spent more than 10 years researching small-group instruction in classrooms and schools across Oregon and has found a wealth of positive effects on student social-emotional skills, behavior, mental health, and academic performance. However, we have also found that this form of instruction can be challenging for teachers to implement with fidelity. To make evidence-based small-group instruction truly accessible to everyone, we developed PeerLearning.net, a software platform that enables teachers to quickly and easily deliver evidence-based small-group lessons on any topic at any grade level from late elementary through graduate schools. We have found that using this platform has even more powerful effects on students than implementing small-group instruction manually, and has the additional benefits of reducing teacher stress and burnout and promoting teacher efficacy.