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Department of Information Studies Programs

Department of Information Studies 2023 Information Sessions

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Young people transitioning from foster care face significant challenges leading up to and during their college experience that compromise their educational success, but a new study published by the  UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools finds that California State University (CSU) campus-based programs are providing critical support for students formerly in foster care. 

The study, “Foster(ing) Youth in the California State University: Understanding the Vital Role of Campus Support Programs,” reports on the role CSU campus-based programs play in providing  holistic, wraparound supports to help students succeed.  These efforts serve as a one-stop shop for meeting students’ needs ranging from admissions, registration, financial aid, counseling, mentoring, crisis intervention, and basic needs. Through the programs, students can access workshops on financial literacy, healthy relationships, mental health, Cal-Fresh enrollment, and leadership principles.  Campuses also offer social and cultural programming experiences such as theater and museum visits as well as celebratory events to engage and support students. 

The CSU enrolls an estimated 3,000-3,500 students annually who have a foster care history and 22 of 23 campuses have a dedicated program to support foster youth. 

To conduct the study, the researchers interviewed and surveyed program support staff from 19 out of 23 CSU campuses. The interview responses highlight the importance of “holistic” and “wrap-around supports” in meeting the needs of students. They also underscore the importance of trust building and relationships between program staff and students, and the use of competent, trauma-informed approaches. Supportive programming, such as pre-college counseling, and strong case management with trained, expert staff are also identified as common practices that further quality and equity in the campus-based programs.

“Research shows that campus support programs are critical in providing students with support, a sense of belonging, and a ‘family’ on campus”, said Kenyon Lee Whitman, an assistant professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and a faculty affiliate with UCLA CTS, and lead author of the study. But the study also makes clear youth in foster care face significant barriers and challenges leading up to and during their college experience that compromises their educational success. 

Staff interviewed for the study underscored the limited availability of financial aid and the historical underfunding of foster youth support programs as critical challenges to student success.  Those interviewed said the financial aid system disadvantages students, and that they faced challenges in assisting students with navigating the complexities of funding their education, particularly for older students and transfer students who may face additional barriers. 

The staff interviewed also expressed concerns over a lack of trust and support from campus leadership, fueled by bureaucratic campus policies, administration turnover, and limited opportunities to foster more collaborative partnerships. Many staff also shared anecdotes of the stigmatization of foster students by campus leadership. These issues have contributed to low morale and high staff turnover within campus support programs, and pose a significant challenge in providing stability and consistency for foster students.

“If we are going to meet the needs of these students, we need to make sure that staff members who are providing direct services to foster youth are supported and their expertise and experience are valued,” said Whitman. “We need to take a hard look at our financial aid policies and reform them to be more inclusive of students with foster care experience, as they do not have the same financial support systems as traditional students,” he added. 

The researchers hope the study will encourage significant investment in college campus support programs for foster youth, with actionable recommendations at the CSU system, state, and federal levels. The study includes specific recommendations for supporting foster youth practices in the California State University system. 

”Foster(ing) Youth in the California State University: Understanding the Vital Role of Campus Support Programs,” is a project of the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools.  The study was conducted in collaboration with advisers from John Burton Advocates for Youth (JBAY); the California State University (CSU) Chancellor’s Office; and faculty from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Funding for the research has been provided by the Stuart Foundation. The full report and executive summary can be found online at https://transformschools.ucla.edu/research/fostering-youth-in-the-california-state-university-understanding-the-vital-role-of-campus-support-programs/. 

UCLA CTS is hosting a virtual briefing of the study, including a panel discussion with representatives from the CSU Chancellor's Office, John Burton Advocates for Youth, and CSU campus support program staff on Wednesday, May 31st from 12:00 -1:00 pm (PST). RSVP at: https://ucla.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_q4Y6xLFxRyCkoYHzvZaUIA#/registration.  

Campus programs are critical in providing students with support, a sense of belonging, and a ‘family’ on campus

UCLA CTS Research Highlights Strengths and Challenges in CSU 
Support Programs for Former Foster Youth

In 2015, Melissa Toohey was an elementary school teacher in South LA who unexpectedtly found herself teaching coding and engineering to young students.  In the mornings, she also taught guided reading. One of her kindergarten students had been classified with developmental delays and had speech difficulties and was the lowest performer in her reading and mathematics groups. But as Toohey worked with the young girl to learn about computer science, she turned out to be her best coder. 

“It really made me shift my mindset around what school does for students, how it serves students, how we highlight strengths of students, how we determine what strengths are, and how we determine what a good student is,” Toohey says. "Because in any traditional sense, this young girl struggled with  education. But when it came to coding, she was my strongest coder.  It made me question my biases and rethink my approach, my pedagogy, and my teaching.

“I think that is when I bought into teaching computer science as a tool for equity.  If she (the student) didn't have that access to computer science, she would have been locked out, and would never have been able to discover her strengths. That was when I first got really interested in looking at how teachers think about equity.”

Fast forward to this year and Toohey, a  2022 doctoral graduate of the UCLA Educational Leadership Program, has published an ELP Dissertation Brief exploring how elementary school computer science teachers think about equity and the strategies they use to make their practices more equitable. 

“Computer science is powerful content that students need. It opens up economic and job opportunities and empowers students with tools and skills to be able to create and improve their roles in their community," Toohey says.  "But inequities are already built into how students are accessing computer science education.” 

For the study, “Not Everyone Has Access: How Elementary Teachers' Computer Science Goals and Strategies Relate to Equity,” Toohey interviewed 20 elementary school computer science teachers from across the country about their goals for instruction and students, as well as about their definitions of equity. Their responses were mapped onto the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine definition of equity in computer science. Toohey also used the Kapor Center’s Reimagining Equitable Computer Science Framework to understand the teachers' responses. The framework defines key elements of equity in computer science, such as acknowledging racism and enacting anti-racist practices, or creating inclusive and equitable classroom cultures.

Toohey’s findings make clear that teachers recognize the lack of diversity in computer science and are thinking and talking about equity in computer science in terms of access and opportunities.  But teachers were not discussing equity in computer science instruction in terms of the domination of white culture in the field and how computer science may be impacted by racism or its role in exploring cultural perspectives and the pursuit of social justice.    

“I think teachers recognize that there is racism and bias in computer science and technology. But they weren't necessarily integrating it into their teaching or making it part of their teaching practice,” Toohey says. 

Toohey’s analysis of the teachers' reflections on the Kapor Center framework finds they have generally considered the components of the equity framework in their teaching and have varying degrees of use in their teaching practices. The teachers also discussed creating cross-curricular connections as an important strategy for increasing equity—something that is not explicitly included in the Kapor Center framework. Most of the teachers had not leveraged computer science instruction to increase achievement in core content areas. 

“Teachers value equity, they're prioritizing it,” Toohey says. “But there's more that can be done. Right now, we are just scratching the surface.”  

Toohey’s brief offers recommendations for equitable practices with a focus on the need to build teacher awareness of racism in computer science, and to provide concrete strategies to address it. The brief also encourages efforts to assist teachers to connect computer science with core subjects. 

“There are so many more elements of what policymakers and teachers and parents can do to ensure that every child has access to computer science education and that there is equity in the field.  I would hope there would be a comprehensive strategy for decision-makers and policymakers to enact so that no kids are left behind.

“And I hope teachers can transform computer science education by infusing equity into their computer science practice.  It benefits all of our students.” 

“Not Everyone Has Access: How Elementary Teachers' Computer Science Goals and Strategies Relate to Equity” is part of a series of dissertation briefs published by the UCLA Educational Leadership Program. The full brief, including key findings and recommendations, is available here.

Study highlights strategies teachers use to make their practices more equitable

ELP Dissertation Brief Explores Elementary
School Computer Science Teachers' Thinking About Equity

In the wake of a pandemic that has lain bare inequities and fueled new urgency to address critical challenges confronting education systems and the students they serve, a new study, “Beyond Teacher Leadership: The Role of Teachers as Learners, Innovators and Designers for Whole Child Education,” lays out a new vision and roles for teacher leadership in a rapidly changing world. 

Conducted and published by researchers at the UCLA Center for Community Schooling and the University of South Carolina, the study argues that in the face of enormous challenges, teaching and learning need to be reinvented to meet the needs of the whole child --  addressing their academic, cognitive, mental, physical, and social strengths and needs. 

The researchers contend now is the time to rethink teaching and take advantage of the talents and aspirations of many teachers, and urges school districts to consider new forms of school leadership. The study highlights the need for policies that enable teachers to create learning experiences that support students’ holistic well-being and prepares them for the changes occurring in our communities, economy and society.

To do so, the study explores the approach of two school districts – the Anaheim Union High School District (AUHSD), and the Surrey Schools in British Columbia -- committed to whole-child education. The study examines and highlights the conditions and practices deeply embedded or ready for enhancement across each district --  the established drivers and the promising accelerants — that support teachers as learners, innovators, and designers. 

Among other findings, the researchers documented the “radical collaboration” of high school teachers from Surrey and AUHSD, their innovative use of a unique learning management system, and teacher leadership in the development of the approaches to performance assessments tied to their district’s respective “North Stars” for deeper, student-led learning (not multiple-choice, standardized tests). Teachers in both districts created new academic courses that fuel interdisciplinary learning and student leadership.  The researchers underscore the importance of a few formal classroom-based leaders in accelerating innovation and educational design who model the work of teachers as learners and innovators.

The study includes policy recommendations for reimagining what matters for student learning and approaches that prioritize teacher leadership, collaboration and deeper learning. 

“Beyond Teacher Leadership: The Role of Teachers as Learners, Innovators and Designers for Whole Child Education,” is co-authored by UCLA Center for Community Schooling associate director for research Marisa Saunders and UCLA doctoral Student Natalie Fensterstock, with Barnett Berry and Peter Moyi of the University of South Carolina, and middle school teacher Leslie Snyder, a 2021 Milken Education Award Winner. The full study and policy brief are available here.  

We talk with UCLA’s Marisa Saunders about the study below:

 So, in your own words, what's this study about?

 In the wake of the pandemic a lot of folks have been talking about the need to reinvent education, to create educational environments that enable young people to thrive, regardless of their background or life circumstances, especially in this uncertain world and changing economy. Part of that response has been a growing interest in whole child education, and developing systems that can respond to young people's academic, social, health, and developmental needs.

As we think about the work of community schools in California and beyond, this study is helping us understand how we develop systems that respond to and support students in these challenging times through a whole-child education approach. In particular, what is the role of teachers within a system of whole-child education?  In this study, we wanted to gain an understanding of what the experiences of teachers within a setting committed to whole child education looks and feels like. 

There are a couple of key things.  First, identifying and learning from these two districts was really important. The Anaheim Union High School District in California has been invested in community schools for a long time and views the strategy as a way of reshaping the way we think about teaching and learning. There is a strong classroom focus and emphasis on student engagement and ownership. Similarly, the Surrey school district in British Columbia has a very strong focus on teaching and learning and their academic outcomes serve as their North Star. Nurturing students' well-being and agency is key to reaching that North Star. We found that in both of these places, there are conditions or “drivers” that enable teachers to create learning environments and experiences where they are working alongside students as creators of knowledge, leaders and learners. Second, in both of these places, the conversation about whole child education and their responsiveness to the needs and assets of students, families and communities moves beyond wrap-around services to the establishment of practices that break down barriers between the classroom, school and community. 

In our report, we call those conditions drivers and accelerators. Established drivers refer to the work of teachers as innovators and designers already deeply embedded in practice. Promising accelerants refer to the work of teachers as innovators and designers that is beginning to unfold and could be enhanced if these practices were accelerated.  

What do you want California’s education leaders and policymakers to understand about this study?

One of the things that we found to be important across both of these school districts was that both supported a new definition of teacher leadership, a definition that lifted and empowered teachers. I’m paraphrasing here, but there’s a quote in the study that says something like, “When teachers see themselves as empowered and act on it, they can empower students to identify and respond to issues in their community. And when teachers are developed in ways that help them to identify and leverage their strengths, they are able to do the same thing for their students.”  It was really eye-opening for us to hear from teachers that they felt they were in a system that empowered them to serve as leaders, learners and innovators to create the sort of learning experiences that would empower their students. From a policy perspective, I think we need to ask, how do we do this? How do we think about providing teachers with the tools and skills to serve as leaders, learners, and innovators so that they can create new courses and new learning opportunities, like expanding a small garden into a 2-acre farm where students learn about science and develop entrepreneurial skills while addressing the needs of the local community. How do we unleash teachers’ creativity? 

Let’s drill in a little bit. What's the one thing you want people to know about this study?

That if we care about providing environments that tend to the whole child, we also need to think about the whole teacher.  We need to think about creating a system that supports the whole teacher and responds to their strengths, needs, and interests, and gives them room to leverage that. Teachers must know that their work is important, have a sense of power and responsibility, and understand the impact of their work. 

We found that it was really important for teachers to maintain a foot in the classroom. These districts found ways to support teachers as leaders through non-traditional approaches that move away from conventional career ladder models. In Anaheim, hybrid roles were really important in making this happen. Teachers were able to provide peer support and mentorship to other teachers and serve as co-learners. Providing room for learning across sites was also important, and both of these systems prioritized creating the conditions for colleagues to get excited about learning through collaboration. 

There seems to be a lot of discussion of how during the pandemic, students have fallen behind, and growing pressure to do something about “learning loss” and student achievement. How can the ideas in this study help students learn?

 Student learning is at the heart of this work. Our exploratory work in both of these districts highlighted for us that we need to rethink the sort of student outcomes that matter. The two school districts in this study go way beyond traditional standardized test scores to measure student engagement, voice and agency, and students’ overall well-being to ensure their readiness for successful futures. For example, in  Anaheim, they have the five C's - communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and character. These skills are taught to students during their classes and they hold kids to those outcomes. They feel strongly that the only way they're going to get students to really succeed and attain those outcomes is by providing teachers with the room to create the curriculum, to innovate, and to establish the learning environment and opportunities that will get each of their students there. There is a culture of learning across these two districts that is just palpable at every level of the system.

What are you hoping this study will help to accomplish?

We're hoping that this study will inspire and assist education systems to re-envision the role of teachers and teacher leadership in creating and pursuing a transformational vision for whole child education. In California, where we have invested $4.1 billion in community schools, we have the opportunity to honor and leverage the many strengths of teachers to innovate, design, lead and learn so that they can respond to the needs and assets of their students, families and local communities. We hope that the work of Anaheim and Surrey can inspire and inform other districts across the state and beyond to engage in building these systems. 

A New Vision for Teacher Leadership For Whole Child Education

Shervaughnna Anderson-Byrd has been named Executive Director of the California Reading and Literature Project, effective June 1, 2023

Anderson-Byrd, previously the regional director of the California Reading and Literature Project at UCLA Center X, brings a deep level of expertise in literacy, language arts and educational leadership, and a long history in working with the California Subject Matter Projects to her new role.

“I am honored to have been selected to serve as the new executive director for a project that has had such an influence in making me the educator I am today,” Anderson-Bryd said.  “I look forward to my new role and how I might contribute to the CRLP community -- working together to achieve our shared vision as a community of courageous educators transforming literacy practices to achieve equity for a socially just world.”

A literacy expert and equity advocate, Anderson-Byrd currently serves as a member of the English Language Arts/English Language Development (ELA/ELD) framework for the California Schools K-12 Committee and the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing Reading Expert Group. She is also a member of the Long Beach Unified School District Equity and Inclusion Advisory Board.  

Prior to joining UCLA, Anderson-Byrd was a K-12 English Language Arts consultant for the Los Angeles County Office of Education. A former teacher, coach, and site and district-level administrator, she has extensive knowledge of instructional coaching and is experienced in establishing and nurturing professional learning communities.  Additionally, she has served on California state committees concerning English Language Arts, English Language Learners, and instructional practices for African American students.

The California Reading and Literature Project (CRLP) provides transformative professional learning in reading and literacy. CRLP professional learning efforts position educators as learners and leaders to ensure every California student receives high-quality, comprehensive literacy instruction. CRLP intends that all California students complete high school as broadly literate individuals prepared for success in higher education, the workforce and civic life in the 21st century. Working across nine regional centers in California, CRLP actively develops teacher leaders to collaborate with university faculty and researchers to develop CRLP’s professional learning content. All CRLP programs are aligned with California’s ELA/ELD Framework. CRLP establishes partnerships with schools and districts to provide TK–12 teachers with comprehensive, high-quality professional learning for teaching reading, subject literacy and academic language. The California Reading and Literature Project is housed at the CREATE Center at UC San Diego.  

UCLA Reading Expert Shervaughnna Anderson-Byrd to 
Lead California Reading and Literature Project

Eddie R. Cole, an associate professor of higher education and history in the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies, has been named a Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellow for 2023-24.  The Radcliffe fellowship offers scholars in the humanities, sciences, social sciences, and arts—as well as writers, journalists, and other distinguished professionals—a rare chance to pursue ambitious projects for a full year in a vibrant interdisciplinary setting at Harvard. 

“Professor Cole has developed a portfolio of scholarship that illuminates the critical role university and college leaders  – for good and ill – play in the furtherance of civil rights, racial justice and opportunity in higher education,” said Christina Christie, Wasserman Dean of the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies.  “His work is a noteworthy example of the excellence of our scholarship at UCLA. He is an inspiring representative of our school, and we celebrate Dr. Cole and his receipt of this prestigious new award.”

Professor Cole’s research explores the historic role college presidents in shaping racial policies and practices both inside and outside of the educational sphere. At Radcliffe, Cole will prepare a new history of American higher education, focusing on the overlooked - and often dismissed - contributions of Black intellectuals, students, and administrators to the development of the modern university.  He joins a cadre of fellows who will spend the year at Harvard Radcliffe, exploring a large variety of topics across disciplines. 

“This year’s cohort promises, once again, to accomplish incredible things,” said Tomiko Brown-Nagin, dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School, and professor of history in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. “As ever, we have outstanding fellows with expertise in a wide range of fields. 

Cole is the author of the award winning book, “The Campus Color Line: College Presidents and the Struggle for Black Freedom” (Princeton University Press, 2020).

He received the 2018 Early Career Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education and was also the 2017 Mellon Emerging Faculty Leader Award from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation. Professor Cole was also a recipient of the 2015 National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. Cole has also been recognized in Education Week as one of the 200 most influential scholars in the field of education, and his scholarship and public writing has been featured in The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Chronicle of Higher Education among other publications. 

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University—also known as Harvard Radcliffe Institute—is one of the world’s leading centers for interdisciplinary exploration. The program bring students, scholars, artists, and practitioners together to pursue curiosity-driven research, expand human understanding, and grapple with questions that demand insight from across disciplines. For more information, visit www.radcliffe.harvard.edu.

Eddie R. Cole Named 2023-2024 Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellow

UCLA Ed&IS doctoral student Jinwen (Jevan) Luo, has been selected as the 2023 winner of the ETS Harold Gulliksen Psychometric Research Fellowship. The prestigious award provides funding for promising graduate students in psychometrics or a related field, and is given each year in support of an outstanding dissertation project in the field of measurement and psychometrics.  The ETS Harold Gullikson Fellowship provides a $25,000 stipend, $8,000 fees/tuition, and a small research grant, in addition to an internship opportunity over the 2023 summer.  Recipients of the award are selected based on the strength their superior academic credentials as well as exceptional promise in the field of measurement, psychometrics or statistics, and the suitability and technical strength of the proposed research.

“ETS is a leading research institution for pioneering and funding groundbreaking psychometrics research and  as a recipient of the ETS Harold Gulliksen Psychometric Research Fellowship, I am excited to collaborate with ETS researchers to unlock the full potential of my dissertation study,” Luo said.  “Working with ETS will provide invaluable opportunities to access diverse data and explore innovative item formats, as well as gain insights into cutting-edge psychometric research. With this fellowship, I can further advance my research and career in measurement and psychometrics and contribute to improving the fairness and accuracy of educational assessments.

Luo is a Ph.D. student studying psychometrics and quantitative methods in the Social Research Methodology Division at the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies.  Before UCLA, Jinwen received a B.S. in economics and an M.S. in the economics of education, both from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in China. Jinwen Luo's research interests revolve around investigating how humans learn and develop abilities and skills in social and educational contexts, with a focus on developing fair and effective methods to improve the assessment and measurement of learning. His work in this area has led him to specialize in quantitative methods, including social network analysis, multilevel models, Bayesian modeling, and causal inference methods and their applications for educational contexts. 

Luo will conduct his proposed dissertation research under the mentorship of his academic advisor, Minjeong Jeon, Professor of Advanced Quantitative Methods in the School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA, and in consultation with ETS mentors over the course of the funding. 



UCLA Doctoral Student Jinwen Luo Wins Prestigious ETS Harold Gulliksen Psychometric Research Fellowship

UCLA Professor of Education Tyrone C. Howard will begin his new role as president of the American Education Research Association (AERA) by taking part in the AERA Annual Meeting Virtual Sessions, Thursday, May 4 and Friday, May 5.

Howard’s participation in the virtual sessions begins with the AERA Research and Science Policy Series​ Session, “Education Research Trustworthiness, Justice, and Democracy,” Thursday, May 4, at 4.15 p.m. (CST). The session will explore the ideals of justice and justice-seeking, and the persistent and pernicious patterns of injustice that are intertwined with attempts to diminish democratic politics across the Americas and the world.  Howard will join as a panelist in this symposium featuring representatives of the national associations of educational researchers of Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and the U.S. to discuss how their organizations are addressing these issues through critical comparative considerations of patterns and possibilities in the Americas. This invited virtual symposium is co-sponsored by the Americas Education Research Network.

During the virtual sessions Howard will also introduce the AERA Distinguished Lecture, featuring Arnetha Ball of Stanford University, Friday,1:15 p.m. (CST). Ball’s lecture, “Conducting Consequential Research in Challenging Times: Generative Change for Educational Equity,” will explore how recent developments in computers and artificial intelligence have produced some of the most advanced technologies available since the dawn of humanity, yet schools and schooling have failed to use that advanced technology to address the most basic challenges facing teachers, students, families, and communities. She asks for better ways to mobilize some of the incredible potential of this technology to generate change in schools and communities.

Howard will also offer remarks for the AERA Virtual Session Closing Plenary on Friday, May 5, with his lecture exploring the 2024 Annual Meeting theme, “Dismantling Racial Injustice and Constructing Educational Possibilities: A Call to Action.” 

Closing remarks will explore 2024 Annual Meeting theme, “Dismantling Racial Injustice and Constructing Educational Possibilities: A Call to Action.”

Tyrone Howard Takes on New Role as AERA President in Annual Meeting Virtual Sessions

The need for a more diverse teaching workforce in California is evident. While students of color make up nearly 80 percent of the state’s student population, just under 40 percent of California teachers are people of color. Research shows teacher diversity benefits all students regardless of race or ethnicity, and although California is engaged in efforts to recruit more teachers of color, data shows that teachers of color are leaving the profession at higher rates than white teachers. 

Jason Kim-Seda, a recent doctoral graduate of the Educational Leadership Program (ELP) at UCLA, now working at the College of Education at CSU Los Angeles, contends that a sense of belonging among teachers of color, or rather the lack of one, may be a part of the problem.

“Teachers of color feel less belonging than their white colleagues in terms of their voices being valued or having input on school policies and procedures. They feel like tokens sometimes, and face more pressure to prove themselves,” Kim-Seda says. “There seems to be a weariness and a tiredness that I think leads to kind of expedited burnout.” 

Kim-Seda makes his case about the impact and importance of a sense of belonging among teachers of color in the recently published UCLA ELP Dissertation Brief, “Independent School Teachers of Color Face More Barriers to Belonging Than Their White Colleagues.”

“My interest was to look at the retention of teachers of color, and how is that impacted by a sense of belonging, as well as at efforts to promote belonging, either institutionally or from school leadership.” Kim-Seda said. 

To explore the sense of belonging among teachers of color, Kim-Seda surveyed 133 white teachers and teachers of color who were working in predominately white independent schools in Los Angeles. The teachers were surveyed about their sense of belonging, their professional treatment, and the level of leadership and institutional support they experience. Teachers of color were also asked about their racial sense of belonging and experiences of discrimination. Kim-Seda then conducted follow-up interviews with 21 of those teachers. While the study only included independent school teachers, and its findings are specific to those institutions, the implications may be generalizable to other K–12 schools. 

Kim-Seda says the study highlights significant data on the experiences of teachers of color working in predominantly white spaces, and their lesser sense of belonging than their white colleagues in a handful of key areas. 

·      Teachers of color felt less of a sense of belonging in terms of their voices being valued or having input on school policies and procedures, sometimes even during faculty meetings. 

·      They were more likely to experience feelings of tokenization, citing examples of being used for PR efforts, such as photographs on school websites and certain admissions processes. 

·      Sometimes they felt they were asked to engage in labor that they were not compensated for because they are teachers of color, such as “Okay, you're the Black teacher, you work with the Black students and families we have here and help them feel more comfortable.” 

·      Teachers of color also felt more judgment and pressure to prove themselves. 

“There is a lot of pressure, either explicitly or implicitly, from parents and the community, questioning teachers’ expertise,” Kim-Seda says. ”They feel like they are treated with a little bit less respect, a little less courtesy than their white peers.”

Teachers of color also expressed mixed levels of concern about their experiences with and support from school leadership regarding racial awareness, conversations and policies about race and racism, commitment to supportive relationships, and interventions with parents. 

“This element of belonging matters for teachers,” Kim-Seda says. “And having school leaders who understood that and who might step in and defend teachers a little bit more if they're getting unnecessary or uncalled for pushback from parents was really important to them.”

While it’s not included in his objective research findings, Kim-Seda says he thinks that if schools recruit a diverse population of educators, “they have a moral and ethical responsibility,” to make considerations that address belonging, cultural impact, and some of the institutional practices that may stand as barriers to belonging. 

“Those with the power at schools to do the hiring and firing, those leaders who are brought in to lead diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, those are the folks who need to understand and make sure that belonging is at the forefront of their strategy for recruitment, hiring, retention, and development of a teaching body that reflects society around them,” Kim-Seda says.

“Your efforts to further diversity, equity, and inclusion may amount to nothing if you're not doing some long-term planning and thinking about school and institutional culture, and developing a sense of belonging. If you want to retain really good talent, there needs to be an extra commitment.” 

Kim-Seda hopes his dissertation brief will serve as a resource for school leaders at predominately white independent schools to help them further experiences of belonging and increase leadership and support of teachers of color in those institutions. The brief offers recommendations that, among other suggestions, focus on the growth of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, set clear boundaries for behavior and communications, and encourage school leaders to proactively build relationships with teachers of color. 

“Relationship building is key for school leaders, and they need to go that extra mile in building relationships with teachers of color in order to build trust and autonomy in those relationships,” Kim-Seda explained.

“Listen to the value, take the input of all your teachers, your parents, your students of color. Really take the time to regularly build relationships and do some listening sessions so that you are staying abreast of what's happening within your school site or your district. As opposed to making assumptions or just putting out fires, you need to proactively build relationships to develop belonging.” 

“Independent School Teachers of Color Face More Barriers to Belonging Than Their White Colleagues” is part of a series of dissertation briefs published by the UCLA Educational Leadership Program. The full brief, including key findings and recommendations, is available here.

New ELP Dissertation Brief: Independent School Teachers of Color 
Face Barriers to Belonging

UCLA professor of education Tyrone Howard called for more academic engagement to achieve equity and support for the most vulnerable students, with his Social Justice in Education Award Lecture titled, “Seeking Justice in Unjust Schools and Classrooms: Implications for Education Researchers and Practitioners,” which took place on April 14 at AERA’s Annual Meeting in Chicago. In his remarks, the new 2023-2024 AERA president shared his scholarship and that of his esteemed colleagues across the nation, along with on-the-ground perspectives from his experiences as a researcher and educator.

Howard, the recipient of the AERA 2022 Social Justice in Education Award, was introduced by Jamel K. Donnor, professor of education at William & Mary University. Howard’s talk focused on the current environment of high levels of political contentiousness about what should be taught in schools, and threats to inclusive public schooling that reflects all students’ identities. He also offered historical perspectives and a call for more interdisciplinary engagement among academic, practitioners, and philanthropy. Howard's remarks concluded with ways that educational researchers, practitioners, and policymakers can disrupt and dismantle unjust learning opportunities in schools and colleges.

Professor Howard underscored how the pursuit of social justice in education, “… remains ever present for millions of students nationwide.” 

“At a time of unprecedented demographic transformation in the U.S., efforts to eliminate race-based discussions, exclude content on sexual orientation and gender identity… the persistence of colonialism in school curriculum only lifts up the persistence of exclusion of many students,” said Howard. “Our focus and commitment to justice must be anchored in the idea of dismantling systems of oppression, building a diverse coalition of justice fighters, and using our research, theory, and practice to advocate for those doing this work in schools and classrooms.”

Howard cited recent examples of legislature that are intended to hamper the teaching of slavery, Jim Crow policies and the lynching of Black people in the United States, measures that include steep fines for teachers who violate these laws. He stated that steps have been taken in states to ban racial or ethnic-based content, as well as prohibiting professional development for educators that places blame or responsibility on race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. This includes any training that makes participants feel guilty because of acts committed by individuals who are the same or a different race or ethnicity. Howard also discussed the impacts of these measures on the teaching of critical race theory across the nation, and the blind obeisance of states that have adopted anti-CRT policies.

“CRT has been labeled as un-American and according to Education Source, approximately 42 states have discussed or introduced legislation that has banned the teaching of … critical race theory in schools, despite the overwhelming evidence that there is no teaching of critical race theory in schools in 13 states that adopted the legislation.” 

Professor Howard addressed the book bans that continue to spread nationwide, and cited a report by PEN America stating that among the 6,074 books banned from July 2021 to June 2022, 41% addressed LGBTQ themes and characters; 659 of the books had prominent or secondary characters of color; and approximately 21% directly addressed race and racism. 

“The message is clear: any conversation in any textbook that begin to engage in conversations around gender identity, race or ethnicity, or race and racism are under attack,” Howard said. “Yet, what has not been met with outrage in our society are the conditions in which many of the 50 million young people who are in our schools today in this country deal with…  real adverse circumstances that have not brought up the ire of those who ban books.”

Howard underscored the level of effort spent on banning books to the lack of action on the everyday issues that plague marginalized students. He noted that, “… far less attention and effort has been focused on addressing the out-of-school factors that influence a child’s development. 

“Environmental justice is just as important as economic justice," said Howard. "Clean water and clean air are just as vital to our young people as clean schools. The economic conditions that our students face where they live, has to be addressed. We don’t have the option of doing ‘either/or,’ we must do ‘all of the above.’ 

“We must recognize the dearth of affordable housing at a time when we have seen the disparity have great implications for students struggling with housing insecurities. As a responsible society, we must do everything to understand the relationship between mental health and substance abuse… it’s traced back to deep pain, frustration and despair, marginalization and desperation of parents and caregivers.”

Professor Howard underlined the importance of building, “a robust multidisciplinary education solutions-oriented approach,” with connections among education, public policy, medicine, social welfare, and mental health, where academics and practitioners work in tandem to serve vulnerable students and communities. 

“The social worker never talks to the teacher; the doctor never talks to the social worker; the teacher never talks to the parent, and we continue to see children fall through the [cracks],” said Howard. “Academics and advocates often fall painfully short in addressing this kind of partnership that allows sustainable, cross-disciplinary action. Our inability to talk, think, and plan across disciplines only contributes to the persistence of injustice. Creating justice in unjust classrooms requires us moving out of our silos and focusing on ways in which we can work across systems to begin addressing the complexity of problems that young people face in schools.”

Howard said that community agencies can also play, “a role in sustaining the moral conviction to respond to our most vulnerable student populations,” and stated that elected officials, community organizations, social service agencies, and faith-based organizations should work collaboratively to support families with resources and additional funding to aid in their struggles around housing, poverty, and other basic needs. 

“As a society, we continue to make discoveries and innovations in science, continue to amaze our minds,” said Howard. “Driverless cars and trips to Mars are well within our reach, yet we can’t find ways to house, feed, care for, and educate all of our children.”

Professor Howard said that AERA members need to play “a robust role in the pursuit of justice.” He spoke of efforts in the last 100 years to control the teaching of history and social studies, that exclude marginalized groups, and were led by conservative organizations seeking to, “… to create the kind of schools they thought benefitted their children, but not minority children.”

“Today, we see the same thing,” he said. “Every one of these groups was interested in pleading with some special cause in the schools. This raises a set of serious questions that we need to address and wrestle with today in our pursuit of justice. Are we going to allow others to dictate what our children learn? Will we stand by idly to watch others whose interests are not aligned with ours to dictate what our children learn in school?

“Justice will arise when we begin to stand up and speak out against the very kinds of things that deny truth. We must ask the question: who should be involved in deciding what we should teach in our public schools, and what function should the curriculum serve?”

Howard cited the recent report by the National Academy of Education on “Educating for Civic Reasoning and Discourse,” that delineates the purpose of public education as not only preparing students for future careers but as having “… a duty to prepare young people for their roles as civic agents in our democracy.”

A recent grandfather, Professor Howard recalled what initially inspired his focus on social and racial justice in schools.

“Years ago, I used to think about doing this work as it pertains to the kinds of schools I wanted my kids to be a part of,” he recalled. “But my lens is shifting because all my kids are grown and out of school. Some of the same issues that I was fighting for, for my children – I don’t want my granddaughter to encounter those same factors. It gives me a renewed sense of purpose, a renewed sense of conviction as to why and how this work has to be done, and why justice has to be attained – we have no other options.”

Howard shared his experiences of growing up in Los Angeles, as “someone who comes to this work as a product of public education… working class neighborhoods, growing up as a Black boy with parents who migrated from the segregated South.”

“In many ways, my life has been about justice: those who were seeking justice, those who were looking for opportunities for better justice, the pursuit for better opportunities, the quest for full citizenship, the push for equality,” said Howard. “Justice has got to be an ongoing, everyday way of life: how we live, how we think, how we breathe in every aspect of our lives. Moreover, justice seeks a level of reciprocity, respect, and affirmation of the human condition, where people are treated with the honorable and principal decency that should be afforded to everyone in a democratic society."

Professor Howard noted that the bottom line of working for justice is the commitment, “… to ensure that every student who enters a classroom, regardless of their identity, is seen, heard, and validated in ways that every child deserves to be seen.” He asked the teacher educators and researchers at AERA to examine the goals of the practitioners and scholars informed and shaped by their work. 

“When it comes to justice education, every day, every person dedicated to the wellbeing and uplift of students should ask, ‘Am I being just, not to most students, not to some students… but to all students? Do I have a deep-seated care and conviction and love for their future and their wellbeing? Do my students feel like there is a just and fair learning environment, and if not, what is my role and responsibility to create those conditions? 

“This is the work we have to do. We stand on the shoulders of giants who … made the sacrifices to ensure that we would have these opportunities at this time. They were our freedom fighters. We know what it takes.”

Professor Howard serves as the director of UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children & Families and is the co-faculty director of the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools (CTS), a campus-wide consortium examining academic, mental health, and social emotional experiences and challenges for California’s most vulnerable youth populations. Howard is also the founder and leader of the UCLA Black Male Institute, now housed at CTS.

Since 2019, Howard has worked with colleagues at UCLA CTS and other institutions to conduct and publish new research detailing the educational status of Black students in Los Angeles County and exploring how various educational, health, and social factors, including homelessness and exposure to environmental pollution, impact their academic and developmental outcomes. Additional research has examined the impact of COVID-19 and reopening schools for Black Youth, as well as a recent paper shining a light on the “bright spots,” the schools and organizations creating and cultivating excellence and opportunity for young Black people in Los Angeles County. 

Professor Howard is the author of several books, including, "Why Race and Culture Matters in Schools" (Teachers College Press) and "All Students Must Thrive" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), among others. He is a native of Compton, California, where he also served as a classroom teacher. A member of the National Academy of Education and an AERA Fellow, Howard assumed the role of 2023-2024 president of AERA at the Annual Meeting in Chicago. 

Perspectives on “Seeking Justice in Unjust Schools and Classrooms: Implications for Education Researchers and Practitioners,” outlined new AERA president's vision for greater collaboration among those supporting the most vulnerable students and communities.

Tyrone Howard: AERA Social Justice in Education Lecture a Call for Engagement Among Academics and Practitioners

From undergraduates to esteemed scholars, representatives of UCLA Ed & IS were everywhere at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association (AERA) earlier this month in Chicago. Bringing their Bruin spirit to the “Windy City,” the UCLA team shared their ideas and research, took part in important discussions of critical issues, gained new knowledge, and were honored for their work. The UCLA participants left no doubt about the commitment of UCLA Ed & IS to the development of new ideas, knowledge and practices that strengthen public education and the school’s commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion and justice as central to its strategies for improving education and increasing opportunity for all. 

First-year graduate student Lauren Arzaga Daus presented her case study on AAPI high school students in which she argues that while California has established an Ethnic Studies requirement, the needs of AAPI students may go unseen and unmet, and there is a need to ensure teachers are provided the support they need to create and sustain spaces where they and their students can reimagine and cultivate equity, social justice, and liberation in education. 

Doctoral candidate Gabriela Corona Valencia shared her work tracing the life of Concepcion Ruiz, a sixteen-year-old Mexican girl sterilized at Sonoma State Home of the Feebleminded in California in 1930, in a study highlighting the impact of eugenic thought and practice in contemporary K-16 public learning environments in East Los Angeles. 

“I tried to understand the role of eugenics and the ways in which eugenics plays a very violent role in containing, surveilling and controlling the bodies of Chicana Latina girls. I argue that in in sex education and health, education discourse, this eugenic violence, the same violence that affected Concepcion, continues to impact Chicana Latina girls,” Valencia said. 

Recent graduate Tomi Rajninger joined the Momentum team, led by associate director Kate Lehman, to present “Making the Leap: Recent College Graduates' Early Career Experiences in Computing Fields.” One key finding, “Men reported much higher senses of belonging and identity than women in computing.”

Doctoral candidate Jeffrey Yo examined school level associations between teacher-child closeness and kindergarten students’ math and reading outcomes, as well as the association between these academic outcomes and internalizing behavior. 

“We noticed that teacher-child closeness is positively associated with their academic outcomes, Yo said. “But the variance differs by school. And while teacher-child closeness varies by school, the internalizing behavior did not, which may suggest that internalizing behavior may be more fixed within the child, like more (part) of a personality.”

Graduate student Alice Xu presented her work on “Early Identification of Underperforming Students via Reading Patterns. “With these precise measures we can help instructors to help students early on,” said graduate student Alice Xu, discussing her research on “Early Identification of Underperforming Students via Reading Patterns.” 

UCLA CRESST undergraduate student Kayla Teng made the case for the education community to study computational thinking and problem-solving in her poster session, “Development and Validation of Game-Based Indicators of Computational Thinking in a Block-Based Programming Game.”

Countering deficit-oriented perspectives of foster youth, doctoral student Demontea Thompson led a lively roundtable discussing his research on the educational journey of foster youth in California. Participants in the study described having to navigate their educational journey with limited or no help. Even though they were confronted by low expectations, many spoke of higher aspirations for educational success and an intent to give back to their communities. 

Mexican immigrants to the U.S. have long sought, and too often been denied, full citizenship. Their quest to be treated equally and justly, as fully human, endures. In a session exploring the persistent invisibility of Latinx community, UCLA Education Department chair Cecilia Rios-Aguilar joined with co-author Alfredo J. Artiles of Stanford and other colleagues to discuss their research, “Epistemological Invisibility in Research: Implications for Latinx Student Populations 2.0.” 

“We need to come together in spaces like these, inside academic spaces and outside … to grasp exactly what this epistemic violence is, how it manifests in our practices in policies and systems, to work on alternatives to face a world that has changed drastically,” said Rios-Aguilar. “We need to move forward to address both invisibility and violence. We don't want to end here without offering a path forward.” 

COVID-19 hit schools and students hard. Assistant professor Anna Markowitz discussed the findings of a new study, “Changes in Children's Kindergarten Readiness in the Wake of COVID-19: Statewide Evidence From Louisiana.” Among the findings: Between 5-15% fewer kindergarteners met readiness benchmarks across multiple areas after schools closed in 2020, with the largest declines in literacy, mathematics, and physical development. And readiness drops were higher among Black children than white children across all domains except mathematics, and higher among Hispanic children than white children in social-emotional development. The study provides some of the first evidence of pandemic-linked changes in young children’s learning and development, and provides a fuller picture of the challenges children, families, and schools may face in the coming years. 

UCLA Diversity Program Consortium project scientist Ana Romero and investigator Krystle Cobian led a packed roundtable discussing their paper exploring the complexities of financial support for students in grant-funded STEM training programs. They contend that Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) funding led to reductions in financial stress and access to career training, but the impact of aid was hampered by limitations in funding and financial aid processes. 

Doctoral student Davis Vo made the case for expanding California Community College baccalaureate degree programs (CCB), presenting new research arguing that CCB programs offer the opportunity to concretely provide more accessible, affordable, and place-bound bachelor’s degrees to advance social mobility for racial and ethnically diverse students, and to meet local workforce demands. 

Assistant professor Lorena Guillen asked the question, “What does it really look like to prepare teachers of color?” in a roundtable discussion of her research with graduate students JC Lugo and Sara Jasmin Diaz-Montejano titled, “Troubling Curriculum: Critical Awakenings in Social Foundations for Ethnic Studies Teachers.” Their research presented findings from a study of awareness levels among pre-service teachers in a social foundations course designed for ethnic studies teaching and suggests a need for explicit instruction and creating space for “critical awakenings,” with attention to diversity among teachers of color. 

Kai Monet Mathews (at right), director of the California Educator Diversity Project in the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools (CTS), presented findings on, “The Six Barriers to Racial Equity in Teacher Education Programs,” with Cathy Balfe, CTS research analyst (at center), CTS doctoral student researcher Erika Yagi (at left).

Kai Monet Mathews, director of the California Educator Diversity Project in the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools (CTS), presented findings on, “The Six Barriers to Racial Equity in Teacher Education Programs,” a study she conducted with Cathy Balfe, CTS research analyst, CTS doctoral student researcher Erika Yagi, and UCLA Education alumni Earl Edwards and Christopher Mauerman. Using the Kohli healthy racial climate model as a theoretical framework, the team identified six barriers to racial equity including compositional diversity, financial burden, capitalistic values, community and culture, curriculum and pedagogy, and testing requirements.

UCLA Teacher Education Program faculty members Jane Kim and Imelda Nava Landeros, and high school teacher Candice Griffin presented their research paper, “Pedagogy of Resistance: STEM+CS Teachers Counter Bias and Discrimination in STEM and Computing Education.” Plumbing the experiences of four teachers, they explored how STEM and computer science teachers with marginalized identities push back against discrimination and biases in STEM and computing spaces. 

Associate professor Ananda Marin (at right) and Brenda Lopez, research associate and media coordinator at the UCLA Center for Critical Race Studies in Education, presented “Freedom Dreams Nested Within the Small Stories of Improvisational Jazz Artists,” in an AERA Vice-Presidential Session. Their study explored how how the arts serve as a nexus for social, political, and ethical discourses in education.

Associate professor Ananda Marin and Brenda Lopez, research associate and media coordinator at the UCLA Center for Critical Race Studies in Education, presented their study on “Freedom Dreams Nested Within the Small Stories of Improvisational Jazz Artists,” in an AERA Vice-Presidential Session on “Consequential Futures: The Contested Pursuit of Truth in Freedom Dreaming.” Their study, conducted with doctoral student researcher Lindsay Lindberg, explored where and with whom do creative artists develop their expertise, how the arts serve as a nexus for social, political, and ethical discourses, particularly in regard to education, and how freedom dreams often germinate in collaborative and improvisational contexts.

UCLA alumnus Mike Hoa Nguyen, now an assistant professor at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, chaired the symposium, “Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander–Serving Institutions: Honoring the Past, Examining the Present, and Imagining the Future,” which featured the perspectives of fellow Bruins, Cynthia Alcantar, now an associate professor and director of Higher Education Administration at Loyola Marymount University, and doctoral student Rikka Venturanza.

UCLA alumnus Mike Hoa Nguyen, assistant professor at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, chaired the symposium, “Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander–Serving Institutions: Honoring the Past, Examining the Present, and Imaging the Future.” The panel included fellow Bruins (L-R) doctoral student Rikka Venturanza; Victoria Kim, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Austin; Cynthia Alcantar,  associate professor and director of Higher Education Administration at Loyola Marymount University; and Kristine Jan Cruz Espinoza, a doctoral student in higher education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and a former student affairs officer, UCLA Asian American Studies Department.

Professor of education and AERA Council member Daniel Solórzano shared his journey as a scholar of Critical Race Theory in an invited speaker session on “Censorship? Indoctrination? Erasure? Critical Race Theory in Teaching and Teacher Education.” The director of the UCLA Center for Critical Race Studies in Education, Solórzano offered a working definition of critical race theory in education, including its five tenets of centering race and racism; challenging dominant frameworks – particularly cultural and genetic deficiency frameworks; centering experiential knowledge; a commitment to social justice; and utilizing an interdisciplinary frame. 

Professor of education and AERA Council member Daniel Solórzano shared his journey as a scholar of Critical Race Theory in an invited speaker session on “Censorship? Indoctrination? Erasure? Critical Race Theory in Teaching and Teacher Education.” The director of the UCLA Center for Critical Race Studies in Education, Solórzano offered a working interdisciplinary definition of CRT in education.

In an AERA Presidential Session chaired by UCLA Professor of Education Tyrone Howard on “The COVID Effect: Rethinking Learning, Data Systems, and Truth for Justice,” associate professor of education and co-faculty director of the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools (CTS) Lucrecia Santibañez and Joseph P. Bishop, CTS executive director, presented their findings on, “School Climate Data Pre and Post-COVID: Student and Educator Perspectives in Pursuit of Education Justice.” Santibañez shared data making clear that student engagement, behavioral indicators, and absenteeism have worsened following the pandemic. She urged researchers to have some understanding and empathy for the scope of the pandemic’s impact, suggesting we need to “restore schools in a more humane way.” Sharing research on educator perspectives on the effects of COVID, Bishop’s presentation made clear that gaps in achievement patterns for students of color are accelerating, the social, emotional and mental health needs of students far exceed the capacity of schools, and the basic needs of students are more fundamental to learning than before, arguing that an aggressive state policy response is needed to support racial justice and equity. Thomas Dees and Susanna Loeb of Stanford, Andrew Ho of Harvard, and Janelle Scott of UC Berkeley also took part in this session that one conference attendee said, “was ‘like you asked ChatGPT: ‘create the education research version of The Avengers.’”

Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA, served as discussant for an invited speaker session titled, "Will the Supreme Court Re-segregate Our Colleges? Amid Troubled Waters, Can Research Show the Way?" 

“Without race-conscious policies, we will have segregation and inequality and re-segregation,” Orfield said. “Whatever the Supreme Court decides, if they decide that all race-conscious policies are unconstitutional, anything that's a positive and obvious race-conscious policy will be considered as potentially discriminatory, and subject to serious sanctions. And, it will be a potentially disastrous intellectual and social loss for institutions. 

“As researchers, we need to think about race consciousness,” continued Orfield. “This is something that academics can do something about. Those of us who are researchers, we can show those facts. We can present them to the people that need to hear them, we can present them to the public in any forums that we have. We can bring them to consideration inside our institutions. And those of you who are in this room or listening to this or thinking about this line of work, need to be part of that process.”

As part of the session, UCLA alumna OiYan Poon, a program officer at the Spencer Foundation, a visiting professor at the University of Maryland at College Park, and an associate professor affiliate at the Colorado State University School of Education, also presented her findings on, “Expanding Research on Race, Asian Americans, and Education Equity.”

Jean Ryoo, director of research for the Computer Science Equity Project in UCLA’s Center X, and Professor Sandra Graham made the case for the pursuit of educational equity in the Division C Equity and Inclusion Session, “’Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself’: Doing Equity Work in Ways That Disrupt Systemic Oppression and Empower Marginalized Groups.” The session discussed scholarship on equity perspectives and how members of the academic community can operationalize critical equity perspectives within their research, teaching, and practice. 

“We're just trying to make the world a better place for people,” Professor Graham said. “I always say that I think what I do is use basic research as contributing to knowledge, but it's always with the goal of improving the lives of [the] marginalized.” 

UCLA alumna Tunette Powell, an assistant research professor and director of the K-12 Education of the Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University, and graduate student researcher Brande Otis, presented “Methods Toward Black Freedom Dreaming: Intergenerational Work with Black Families,” in a paper session on “Strengthening the Voice of Black Families in Family, School, Community Partnerships.” 

UCLA alumna Tunette Powell (at center), currently an assistant research professor and director of the K-12 Education of the Children’s Equity Project at Arizona State University, and graduate student researcher Brande Otis (at left) presented “Methods Toward Black Freedom Dreaming: Intergenerational Work with Black Families” in a paper session on “Strengthening the Voice of Black Families in Family, School, Community Partnerships.” Otis and Powell are pictured with SEIS Associate Dean of Public Engagement Annamarie Francois.

“We cannot ignore the legacy of exploitation and extraction in research for Black folks… and the deficit-based narratives that sort of circulate [around] Black families in research,” said Otis in their presentation. “We want to be here to dream and to imagine new ways of doing research… in ways that honor and resonate with our communities and us.” 

Newly appointed AERA president Professor Tyrone Howard was honored at AERA with the 2022 Social Justice in Education Award for his work in making the connections between educational research and social justice. The co-faculty director of the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools and the director of the UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children and Families, Howard is also the founder and director of the Black Male Institute at UCLA.

Other awards recognizing UCLA Education faculty and alumni include: Patricia Gándara, UCLA professor and co-director of the Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at UCLA, was honored with the AERA Bilingual Special Interest Group Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to field. Gándara is a research professor of education and an elected AERA Fellow and of the National Academy of Education. In 2011, she was appointed to President Obama’s Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, and in 2015, she received the Distinguished Career Award from the Scholars of Color Committee of AERA. 

UCLA Education Professor Sandra Graham received the Sylvia Scribner Award, given annually by AERA Division C to scholars in the field of learning and instruction in recognition of outstanding scholarship and contributions. The award recognizes a program of work that has significantly influenced thinking and research in the field of learning and instruction. Graham is a professor in the Human Development and Psychology division in the Department of Education at UCLA and the University of California Presidential Chair in Education and Diversity. She was elected to the National Academy of Education in 2015 and is a principal investigator on grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). 

Tara Yosso (’00, PhD, Urban Schooling) was honored with the AERA Division G Distinguished Contributions to Social Contexts of Education Research Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing a senior scholar who has made distinguished contributions to the systematic examination of the role of social context in education. Yosso is a professor at the UC Riverside Graduate School of Education. Her research and teaching examine educational access and opportunity centering on race, history, and culture, utilizing the frameworks of critical race theory and critical media literacy to examine educational access and opportunity. 

Editor’s Note: Apologies to those whose sessions we may have missed – just too many great sessions to attend. 

From undergraduates to esteemed scholars, representatives of UCLA Ed & IS were everywhere at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association (AERA) earlier this month in Chicago. 

UCLA Shines at AREA 2023

Tyrone C. Howard, Pritzker Family Endowed Chair of Education in the UCLA School of Education & Information Studies, has been named president of the American Education Research Association for 2023-2024.

As president, Howard will help to lead the largest national interdisciplinary research association devoted to the scientific study of education and learning. In doing so, he joins with more than 25,000 AERA members in the U.S. and across the globe working to advance knowledge about education, encourage scholarly inquiry and promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good. 

"I am beyond honored, humbled, and excited to be taking on the presidency of the world's largest educational research organization for the next year,” Howard said. “The field of education continues to face some of the most complex challenges that we have seen in recent memory. Issues continue to linger from the pandemic, racial justice in schools and colleges remains elusive, mental health matters are pervasive, and we have yet to attain educational equity for minoritized populations. I am looking forward to working with some of the world's most dedicated and talented scholars, practitioners, and policy makers on making a notable impact on some of the most vexing issues we see across the educational spectrum"

As professor of education at UCLA, Howard’s research addresses issues tied to race, culture, access and educational opportunity for minoritized student populations in Los Angeles and beyond. His work is keenly focused on equity, and his research has helped to illuminate the challenges and complexities, as well as the strengths and resilience that Black and Brown students bring to their pursuit of education and learning. 

“I couldn’t be more thrilled to see Professor Tyrone Howard take the helm at AERA for 2023-2024,” said Na'ilah Suad Nasir, president of the Spencer Foundation and a previous president of AERA. “He will bring scholarly excellence, deep wisdom, and thoughtful engagement with practitioners, systems leaders, and policy experts to the role. He is a visionary leader and scholar, and I can’t wait to see where he takes the field and the organization.”

In addition to teaching at UCLA, Howard serves as the director of UCLA Pritzker Center for Strengthening Children & Families, and is also the co-faculty director of the UCLA Center for the Transformation of Schools (CTS), a campus-wide consortium examining academic, mental health, and social emotional experiences and challenges for California’s most vulnerable youth populations. Professor Howard is also the founder and leader of the UCLA Black Male Institute, now housed at CTS.

Since 2019, Howard has worked with colleagues at UCLA CTS and other institutions to conduct and publish new research detailing the educational status of Black students in Los Angeles County and exploring how various educational, health, and social factors, including homelessness and exposure to environmental pollution, impact their academic and developmental outcomes.  Additional research has examined the impact of COVID-19 and reopening schools for Black Youth, as well as a recent paper shining a light on the “bright spots,” the schools and organizations creating and cultivating excellence and opportunity for young Black people in Los Angeles County.  

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