Christopher Tienken , Ed.D.
Associate Professor
College of Human Development Culture and Media
(973) 275-2874
Email
Jubilee Hall
Room 405
Christopher Tienken, Ed.D.
Associate Professor
College of Human Development Culture and Media
Christopher Tienken, Ed.D. is an associate professor of leadership, management, and policy and education consultant. He has public school administration experience as a PK-12 assistant superintendent, middle school principal, director of curriculum and instruction, and elementary school assistant principal. He began his career in education as an elementary school teacher. He is the Research Professor in Residence for the American Association of School Administrators (AASA).
Tienken’s research interests focus on curriculum and assessment policy and practice at the local, state, national, and international levels. Tienken was appointed as an External Member of the Faculty at the University of Catania, Italy, in the Department of Education Sciences in 2023 and also serves as an external reviewer for the Italian National Agency for the Evaluation of Universities and Research Institutes (ANVUR). He was selected in 2019 as the Lead Author and Principal Investigator for the AASA Decennial Study of the Superintendent and was invited to be a member of the Professors of Curriculum organization in 2015. The Seton Hall College of Education and Human Services named him Researcher of the Year in 2020 and 2014 and Tienken received the Truman Kelley Award for Outstanding Scholarship from Kappa Delta Pi in 2013. The Institute of Education Sciences recognized his research about the effects of professional development on student achievement and the National Staff Development Council (Learning Forward) awarded him the Best Research Award in 2008.
Tienken has authored over 130 publications including book chapters and articles. His third book, Defying Standardization: Creating Curriculum for an Uncertain Future was awarded Outstanding Book by the Society of Professors of Education in 2019. His latest books include Cracking the Code of Education Reform: Creative Compliance and Ethical Leadership (2020), The School Reform Landscape Reloaded: More Fraud, Myths, and Lies (2021), and The Risky Business of Education Policy, an edited volume with Carol Mullen (2022).
Tienken presents papers regularly at state, national, international, and private venues and consults with public schools in the U.S. and international schools on three continents to improve educational equity for all students. He has ongoing research collaborations with colleagues at the Universita` degli Studi Roma Tre, Rome, Italy, the University of Catania, Sicily, and he has been named as a visiting professor at both universities.
Education
- Ed.D., Seton Hall University, 2003
- M.A. Rutgers University, 1997
- B.S. Kutztown University, 1994
Scholarship
- Tienken, C.H. (2023). Five things educators should know about standardized tests. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 59, 1-3.
- Tienken, C.H. & Mullen, C.A. (2022): The Risky business of education policy. Philadelphia, PA: Routledge.
- Tienken, C.H. (2021). The American superintendent: 2020 decennial study. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
- Tienken, C.H. (2021). The School reform landscape reloaded: More fraud, myth, and lies. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.
- Corsini, C., Pillera, G.C., Tienken, C.H., & Tomarchio, M. (2021). Evaluating educational quality. Milan, IT: Franco Angelli.
- Tienken, C.H. (2021). Valutazione dei docenti e valutazione del merito in Italia: lezioni dall’America. In C. Corsini, G.C. Pillera, C.H. Tienken, & M. Tomarchio (Eds.), Evaluating educational quality (pp. 39-54). Milan, IT: Franco Angelli.
- Pirrone, C., Castellan, S., Amata, C.G., & Tienken, C.H. (2021). Il gioco con le costruzioni e lo svilluppo cognitive: una review narrative [Playing with blocks and cognitive development: A narrative review.] Ricerche di Psicologia, 44, 1-19.
- Tienken, C.H. (2020). Cracking the code of reform: Creative compliance and ethical leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
- Tienken, C.H. (2020). Standardized teaching: Perilous practice. In G. D’aprile & R. Strongoli (Eds.), Lo stato in luogo dell’EducAzione: Ambienti, contesti, & spazi [The State of Education: Environments, contexts, and spaces] (pp. 221-235). Lecce, Italy: Pensa Multimedia.
- Tienken, C.H.(2020). Democratic education: What would Dewey say? Kappa Delta Pi Record, 56(1), 35-41.
- "How Common Standards and Standardized Testing Widen the Opportunity Gap".
In P. Carter and K. Welner (Eds.), Closing the achievement gap: What America must do to give every student a chance. New York, NY: Oxford University Press., April 2013 - The Current School Reform Landscape., February 2013
- "TIMSS implications for U.S. education"., AASA Journal of Scholarship and Practice, 9(4), 3-9., January 2013
- The School Reform Landscape: Fraud, Myth, and Lies, New York, NY: Rowman and Littlefield, 2013
- "The Common Core State Standards: The Emperor is Still Looking for His Clothes", Kappa Delta Pi Record, 48(4), 152-155, October 2012
- "Poverty Matters", AASA Journal of Scholarship and Practice, 9(1), 3-7, July 2012
- Class Size (Book Chapter), In the Encyclopedia of Educational Reform and Dissent, Sage, Thousand Oaks: CA
- "Relationship Between Class Size and Students' Opportunity to Learn Writing in Middle School", Research in the Schools, v16 n1 p13-24 Spr 2009
Academic Distinctions
- National Research Professor in Residence, American Association for School Administrators (AASA)
- External Member of the Faculty, University of Catania, Department of Education Sciences, Italy.
- Outstanding Book Award: Society of Professors of Education: The risky business of education policy. Routledge.
- Outstanding Book Award: Society of Professors of Education: Defying standardization: Creating curriculum for an uncertain future, Rowman and Littlefield.
Accomplishments
- University Research Council Award, Seton Hall University, 2010
- National Staff Development Council, Best Research Award: 2008
- Kutztown University Early Career Excellence Award: 2005
- New Jersey Department of Education, MATRIX Grant: 2004