School of Education

Education

• Ph.D. in Education (concentration in educational psychology), Virginia Commonwealth University
• M.A. in Counseling (concentration in school counseling), Wake Forest University
• B.S. in Psychology, Appalachian State University
  
  

Research interests

Research practice partnerships, research use and dissemination, school-based mental health

Career highlights

• Principal Investigator, Supporting Mental Health in Schools through Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (REB Foundation; VCU Breakthroughs)
• 2025 VCU Demonstrated Impact Through Community Engagement Award
• 2024 VCU Excellence in Community Engagement Award
• 2022 VCU School of Education Community Impact Award
• 2021 McLeod Faculty Development Award
  
  

Recent publications

• Senechal, J., Naff, D., & Parkhouse, H.  (Eds). (2025) Navigating issues of equity in PK12 schools through research-practice partnerships: Stories from the field. Routledge.
• Marshall, D. T., & Naff, D. B. (2024). The ethics of using artificial intelligence in qualitative research. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 19(3), 15562646241262659. https://doi.org/10.1177/15562646241262659
• *Naff, D., *Chen, C., Lu, X., Murphy, J., Wallace, M., Shin, S., Goldin, K., Williams, S., Armwood, C., Jenkins, R., & Gooding, M. (2024). Examining PK-12 Faculty and Staff Capacity to Support Student Mental Health. Richmond, VA: Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium. *Denotes co-first authorship
• Naff, D., Williams, S., Furman-Darby, J., & Yeung, M. (2022) The mental health impacts of COVID-19 on PK-12 students: A systematic review of emerging literature. AERA Open, 8(1), 1-40. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584221084722.  *Top 10 most read article of 2022 for AERA Open
• Naff, D. (2020). Podcasting as a dissemination method for a researcher-practitioner partnership. International Journal for Educational Policy and Leadership, 16(2020). DOI: https://journals.sfu.ca/ijepl/index.php/ijepl/article/view/923
  
  

Bio

Dr. Naff is the Director of the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC), a longstanding research-practice partnership between the VCU School of Education and multiple school divisions in metropolitan Richmond, Virginia. In this role he oversees MERC's collaborative research agenda and dissemination efforts. He also serves as Associate Director of the Institute for Collaborative Research and Evaluation, leading and supporting evaluation projects with partners in higher education, PK-12 education, state and civic agencies, and non profit organizations. He is actively involved in the National Network for Education Research Practice Partnerships (NNERPP), leading national conversations about brokering relationships and navigating peer review in research-practice partnerships.

Dr. Naff is also an Associate Professor of Research, Assessment, and Evaluation in the Department of Foundations, teaching courses in qualitative methods and analysis and human development and learning. He also serves as Faculty Director for Vertically Integrated Projects, helping faculty build curricular opportunities for students at all levels based on multi-semester projects. Dr. Naff lives in Midlothian, Virginia with his wife Traci and their two sons Collier and Aiden.

Curriculum Vitae