SENIOR Education Researcher, SRI Education
Claire Christensen, PhD, is a senior education researcher at SRI Education, where she leads user research, formative evaluation, and mixed-methods studies focused on children’s media and digital learning tools. Her work bridges developmental science, family engagement, and educational technology to understand what works, for whom, and why—and to make those findings useful to researchers, designers, educators, and parents.
She has led more than 18 research studies totaling over $6.5 million in funding, including randomized controlled trials, UX-style formative research, and content strategy reviews. Christensen’s work spans collaborations with PBS KIDS, Sesame Workshop, EdSurge, Amira Learning, and other leaders in education and media. Recent projects include designing and evaluating an AI-powered tool to help parents identify high-quality educational YouTube videos, and conducting national RCTs of PBS KIDS multimedia properties Molly of Denali, Work It Out Wombats!, and Lyla in the Loop—demonstrating measurable improvements in children’s informational text use and sequencing skills.
In addition to leading research studies, Christensen provides content and strategy consulting for media producers, reviewing scripts, digital content, and curriculum guides to ensure alignment with developmental and educational goals. She is also an experienced research communicator, having delivered over 25 presentations, authored public-facing briefs and blog posts, and contributed to podcasts and press coverage aimed at researchers, educators, and families. Her research has even been presented to Congress as evidence of the impact of Ready to Learn media.
Before joining SRI, Christensen managed classroom-based studies and usability research at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She holds a PhD in psychology (community & prevention research) from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a BA in mass communication from Illinois State University. She is a certified What Works Clearinghouse reviewer and a recipient of SRI’s Shark Tank award.
Current projects
- Evaluation of the Ready To Learn Initiative
- Assisting Parents to Review Online Videos for Education (APPROVE)
- Evaluation of Squirrel AI Adaptive Learning
- Evaluation of Reading Together: Building family literacy through AI-enabled tutoring
Recent publications
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A machine learning model to automatically identify fast-paced online videos for children
New AI model flags fast-paced kids’ videos with 85% precision—advancing scalable research on media’s effects and supporting healthier digital play.
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YouTube’s ABCs and 123s: Describing the quality of early literacy and math videos on YouTube
This paper describes the quality of educational videos for young children on YouTube.
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An Evaluation of a First-of-its-kind Hybrid Law Degree Program
There are few published studies investigating the effectiveness of hybrid formats at the program level in graduate legal education. A hybrid Juris Doctorate (J.D.) program launched by a Midwestern institution…
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Sparking Connections: Evaluations of Mobile Messaging on Responsive Caregiving
Mobile messaging programs are a low-cost, scalable approach to building parents’ knowledge and capacity to support their children’s development. These programs directly deliver simple and straightforward information, tips, and activities…
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The Efficacy of Digital Media Resources in Improving Children’s Ability to Use Informational Text: An Evaluation of Molly of Denali from PBS KIDS
Two nine-week trials with a national sample of 263 first-graders examined whether free educational videos and digital games supported children’s ability to use informational text to answer real-world questions.
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Comparing Parent Report and Telemetry Measures of Child Media Use
Accurate measurement of children’s media use is critical for understanding media effects on child outcomes.
For a full list of her work visit Claire’s LinkedIn or her Google Scholar pages.