Teaching Experience and Philosophy

My content expertise focuses on the political economy of education with an emphasis on inequality, governance, and teacher politics and policy. I am drawn to quantitative and mixed methods approaches that allow me to study this empirically, and I genuinely enjoy teaching students new methodological skills that they can apply to their own research and practice. I have translated this content and methodological expertise into classroom instruction for Ph.D., M.A., undergraduate, and K-12 students, as well as in-service teachers.

My prior teaching experiences have both supported and reinforced my commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion. When I became a teacher and a coach in charter schools in Houston, TX, I grew immensely in my understanding of institutional racism, particularly in relation to education. I developed a deep commitment to growing, learning, and addressing the biases that can come from being a white teacher and scholar. As an educator, first in the K-12 context and then at the university level, I have structured my courses around a culturally responsive approach to pedagogy, which fully integrates issues of race, class, and gender into day-to-day instruction. To me, this means not having a single “day we talk about race” but continually incorporating perspectives around power and justice into the course. It means empowering students and challenging them to uncover and tease apart complex issues of inequality and injustice within the context of the subject material.

Specifically, my content-focused teaching interests are education politics and policymaking, education governance, teacher politics and policy, and labor economics. Methodologically, my teaching interests include data analysis for policymaking, applied causal inference, and mixed methods research.

BROWN UNIVERSITY

Data and Evidence in Education, Spring 2021

• Instructional Support for Dr. Susanna Loeb and Dr. Emily Kalejs Qazilbash

• Class of 40 undergraduate students in the Education Concentration

• The course is designed to introduce students to data in education research from a mixed methods perspective.

• Example Activities: conducting and analyzing original interviews, descriptive analysis of administration data, presentation of research synthesis and evaluation

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Data Analysis for Policy and Decision Making I , Fall 2019, Fall 2018, Fall 2017

• Co-instructor with another advanced PhD student (2019)

• Teaching Assistant for Dr. Douglas Ready, responsible for lab sessions, office hours, and grading (2017, 2018)

• Lecture hall class of 75 graduate students in the department of Education Policy and Social Analysis

• The course covers the fundamentals of quantitative research and policy analysis.

• Example Activities: weekly quantitative data analysis and mini paper writing, final project and presentation of original data analysis with data from Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS)

Data Analysis for Policy and Decision Making II, Spring 2018

• Teaching Assistant for Dr. Sarah Cohodes, responsible for lab sessions, office hours, and grading

• Lecture style class of 30 graduate students in the department of Education Policy and Social Analysis

• The course covers advanced quantitative research methods and policy analysis.

• Example Activities: weekly problem sets

Urban Politics and Education, Fall 2016

• Teaching Assistant for Dr. Jeff Henig, responsible for office hours and grading

• Seminar style class of 30 graduate students in the department of Education Policy and Social Analysis

• The course considers the factors that constrain and frequently frustrate urban education reform efforts, paying special attention to competing interests, political ideologies, and the governance structures that may favor some groups over others.

• Example Activities: weekly response papers

K-12 INSTRUCTION

Manager of Teacher Leadership Development at Teach for America, 2012-2015

• One-on-one coaching and professional development learning experiences

• Two cohorts of 26-32 Teach For America corps members in Houston, Texas

• Coaching and professional development focused on diversity and inclusion, the meaning of allyship and oppression, improving academic achievement of students, and advocacy for educational equity.

Sixth Grade Teacher and Track and Cross Country Coach at YES Prep Public Schools, 2010-2012

• Classroom teacher for sixth grade English Language Arts in Houston, Texas

• Cross country coach for middle and high school girls

• Co-founder of the school’s first track team