Jose Eos Trinidad
Education Policy - Organizational Theory - Sociology
Jose Eos Trinidad is Assistant Professor of Education Policy at the University of California Berkeley. He is a sociologist focused on the study of organizations outside schools and the study of schools as organizations. He received his Joint PhD in Sociology and Comparative Human Development from the University of Chicago.
Bringing together the sociologies of organizations and education, his research interrogates education policy, civil society, and institutional change. He is author of Subtle Webs: How Local Organizations Shape US Education (Oxford UP, 2025) and of more than 35 peer-reviewed articles in journals like Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis; Educational Researcher; Socius; Sociological Inquiry; Race Ethnicity & Education; and Social Science & Medicine
His research primarily investigates the interaction between schools and "outside" research, philanthropic, and nonprofit organizations — with consequences for our understanding of public policy implementation, school improvement, and civil society. His current research looks at these cross-sector partnerships (1) in large urban school districts like Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City, (2) with quantitative datasets assembled from US nonprofit tax records, and (3) in new civic organizations in developing countries. To understand policies and politics holistically, he is a multi-method researcher using quantitative causal inference strategies, qualitative interviews, and network analysis.
He is author of two other books, one of which won the Philippine National Book Award. His research has been supported by the National Academy of Education/ Spencer Foundation, American Sociological Association/ National Science Foundation, Asian Development Bank, RAND Corporation, and Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation.
Research Strands
Aside from his primary research strand studying organizations outside schools, he also studies schools as organizations with work concentrated on:
(1) quantitative studies on education policies that have been published in Socius, International Studies in Sociology of Education, Studies in Educational Evaluation, and Social Psychology of Education;
(2) qualitative studies on policy implementation & organizational change published in Acta Sociologica, Journal of Further and Higher Education, College Teaching, and Industry and Higher Education;
(3) causal inference studies regarding youths using quasi-experimental methods published in Social Science and Medicine, Children and Youth Services Review, and Journal of Pediatrics.
Professional Background:
Eos has taught classes on research methods, education inequalities, organizational theory, and causal inference. He has also served as peer reviewer in various education, sociology, and quantitative social science journals. He received his B.A. summa cum laude from the Ateneo de Manila University, and his M.A. and PhD from the University of Chicago, winning the Johnson Prize for his graduate thesis.
Personal Background:
Hi, I'm Eos! I was born and raised in the Philippines, the eldest of four siblings. My name (pronounced Ee-yos) means "bright" in Greek; this was my dad's pen name. A couple of interesting things about me include that I wake up at four in the morning since it's the best time for me to write, I swim every other day (it used to be every day), and I love cooking for friends. One of the reasons I'm in academia is because I love creating, building, and cultivating communities--something I hope to do with students, colleagues, and friends. My work is motivated by a desire to improve organizational effectiveness, excellence, efficiency, and equity.
Seven Key Ideas
TLDR: Jose Eos Trinidad brings together rich theoretical insights with new empirical cases and sophisticated methods to deepen our understanding of organizations and education. Here are seven key insights from his research:
1. Organizational theory can be synthesized into seven perspectives with the acronym SCRIPTS: structure, culture, relations, institutions, professions, transformation, and social conflict. In his attempt to support leaders and researchers in utilizing different theories, he wrote this paper and uses it in his course on Organizational Theory.
2. In a decentralized education system, changes can happen as "outside" organizations are connected across local areas creating an invisible infrastructure of support. His book, Subtle Webs: How Local Organizations Shape US Education, details the many ways and strategies this happens. He also teaches a course on the Ecology of School Improvement.
3. In a highly centralized education system, especially in developing countries, changes can happen by supporting networked bureaucratic effectiveness. In an article with Sociology of Education titled "Educational Change through Bureaucratic Effectiveness: The Role of Mid-Level Networks," he describes the way a Philippine nonprofit helped an education system by connecting these mid-level staff.
4. Education nonprofits have become important actors in education policy and politics, and can be categorized in various ways. In his Educational Researcher article, he categorizes "school improvement organizations" into direct school support, research/ advocacy, and funding. He has also used nonprofit tax data to categorize the broader landscape inclusive of Parent-Teacher Associations, K-12 institutions, and scholarship organizations.
5. The intersection sociological and psychological perspectives can provide new insights on student achievement. His Social Psychology of Education paper notes the interplay of growth mindset and socioeconomic status as GM was predictive of achievement only for higher SES students. His Socius paper highlights how school accountability policies can have detrimental effects on students' motivation to learn. His Studies in Ed Evaluation paper notes how the disjuncture between parental aspirations and student expectations can negatively impact student outcomes.
6. The impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are context-dependent and new methods can more accurately show these mechanisms. His Social Science & Medicine paper illustrates how the effects of ACEs differ according to one's context of disadvantage.
7. During crises like COVID-19 and organizational change processes, leaders need both organizational actions and an acknowledgement of the competing values/ priorities. A number of papers he wrote during COVID-19 discussed that no single decision is correct and that it helps for school leaders to be clear about the competing priorities during times of crisis.