Runs on curiosity,
grounded in evidence.
Dr. Rachel Schechter has spent over 20 years at the intersection of child development, learning science, and educational technology — from the set of Dora the Explorer to the VP suite at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She founded LXD Research to put rigorous, independent research where it matters most: in the hands of educators making decisions for students.
Director of Research, Lexia Learning
Founder & Principal Investigator
LXD Research at Charles River MediaRachel’s path to founding LXD Research was shaped by a single conviction: the only way to know whether something is working for children is to measure it carefully and honestly. That belief has guided her from early-career user research at Nickelodeon to building the evidence infrastructure for some of the country’s largest EdTech platforms.
At Lexia Learning, she helped pioneer adaptive, embedded assessment — using real-time data to personalize reading instruction without students ever knowing they were being assessed. At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, she scaled that philosophy across an entire curriculum portfolio, creating the RAMP framework to unify dozens of products around a coherent learning science.
In 2021, she founded LXD Research to give EdTech companies independent, credible, classroom-grounded validation — the kind that educators trust and states require. Today the firm has conducted more ESSA-approved reading studies than any independent research organization in the country.
From Dora the Explorer
to ESSA certification.
Rachel’s research career began with an internship she still describes as formative: working as a production and research assistant on the first two seasons of Dora the Explorer under Professor Emeritus Dan Anderson, the researcher whose work also shaped Blue’s Clues. With no way to receive feedback from a television screen, the production team relied entirely on user testing — reading episodes aloud to small groups of children and watching how they responded.
One early test session became a lesson she has carried ever since. A question that asked whether children liked to receive mail was met with silence; four-year-olds, it turned out, don’t get mail. A quick adjustment — asking instead whether they liked to go to the post office — produced an enthusiastic chorus of “yes.” The experience taught her that research isn’t just about measuring outcomes; it’s about understanding the people you’re designing for.
That empathy-first instinct became the foundation of everything that followed — from doctoral work at Tufts, to building assessment systems at Lexia that personalized each child’s learning path without ever feeling like a test, to creating the unified RAMP framework at HMH.
A career built on a single question:
Is it actually working?
Early Career — User Research & Television
As an undergraduate intern under Professor Emeritus Dan Anderson — the researcher behind both Blue’s Clues and Dora the Explorer — Rachel conducted formative research on the first seasons of Dora the Explorer. Without any feedback loop from the screen, the only way to know if content was landing was to sit in a room and watch children respond to it in real time.
Graduate Training — Technology & Embedded Assessment
After earning her M.Ed. at Harvard and completing doctoral training at Tufts, Rachel joined Goodman Research as a Project Manager, leading evaluations of technology-focused learning programs. A pivotal project at the Boston Museum of Science showed her that assessment could be woven invisibly into play — producing rich learning data while preserving the joy of the experience.
Director of Research — Adaptive Literacy Technology
Rachel helped transform Lexia’s flagship program from a linear web experience into a fully adaptive platform — one that sent personalized data packets every 90 seconds, dynamically adjusting each child’s path in real time. She built and led a 12-person research department, overseeing both product development and the efficacy research that underpinned Lexia’s evidence claims.
Vice President of Learning Sciences
At HMH, Rachel created RAMP — a learning science framework connecting dozens of formerly siloed products around shared instructional language, social-emotional learning principles, and a common evidence base. When Covid arrived, she led HMH’s national framework for K-12 pandemic recovery, synthesizing two decades of learning science into actionable guidance for schools across the country.
Founder & Principal Investigator — Independent Research
In 2021, Rachel founded LXD Research to address a gap she’d seen from both sides: EdTech companies had compelling products and genuine impact data, but lacked the independent, rigorous evidence base that educators and states required. LXD Research became the bridge — conducting classroom-grounded studies, earning ESSA certifications, and translating findings into evidence stories that build genuine trust.
“Educators don’t inherently distrust research — they distrust research disconnected from their reality.“
A voice shaping the international
conversation on evidence.
EdTech Digest Trendsetter Awards
Recognized twice by EdTech Digest: Person Setting a Trend in 2023 (Rachel Schechter, Ph.D.) and Service Setting a Trend in 2025 (LXD Research) — reflecting both individual leadership and firm-wide impact on the evidence-based EdTech field.
Book Chapters & Peer-Reviewed Articles
Dr. Schechter has co-authored numerous book chapters and peer-reviewed research articles, contributing to the scholarly literature on educational technology, learning sciences, efficacy research, and evidence-based practice across PreK–12 and higher education settings.
ISTE Course of Mind & EdTech Index
Dr. Schechter is a Course of Mind author for ISTE, and LXD Research serves as guest authors for the ISTE+ASCD EdTech Index — contributing expert articles that help educators and district leaders evaluate the quality and evidence behind EdTech products.
Speaker, Panelist & Mentor
Dr. Schechter speaks nationally and across Europe at conferences including the International Dyslexia Association, American Evaluation Association, Society for Research in Child Development, and ISTE. She has been featured on panels with entrepreneurs and EdTech startups, and has served as a StartEd mentor.
Research, explained.
From podcast conversations to short-form YouTube explainers, Dr. Schechter makes rigorous evidence accessible — for educators, EdTech leaders, and anyone trying to make sense of what the research actually says.
Short videos walking through key research findings — designed for educators and EdTech leaders who want the insight without the jargon.
Short videos breaking down ESSA tiers, certification standards, and evidence validation — the concepts EdTech teams and district leaders need most.
Featured: What LXD Research Does — and Why It Matters
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