Public Scholarship
Connecting Teachers to Research on Mindsets
As part of my work with the National Study of Learning Mindsets, I led outreach to teachers and school leaders on ways to effectively implement strategies to support students’ mindsets and decrease inequality in academic achievement.
COVID Response
I analyzed the NSLM data to locate teachers whose students rated them highly on creating growth mindset classroom environments and treating them with trust and respect. I interviewed these teachers during the COVID-19 crisis to understand how they were keeping students engaged through distance learning. These interviews are available on our YouTube Channel. Along with David Yeager, I wrote four pieces for EdWeek outlining the strategies that emerged:
Why Teacher Mindsets Matter When It Comes to Racial Inequality
How Teachers Can Build a Growth-Mindset Classroom, Even at a Distance
Stress Can Lead to Student Failure. New Research Offers a Path to Success
Professional Development Workshops
As part of our Research Practice Partnership with National Study of Learning Mindsets schools, I led professional development workshops with participating schools to share how their own students’ mindsets related to motivation, learning, and achievement, and what strategies they as teachers could use to create growth mindset classroom environments.
Supporting Civics Education Legislation in Texas
During the 2019 Legislative Session in Texas I was the Advocacy Fellow for Generation Citizen, a nonprofit that supports schools in implementing an action civics curriculum. I led advocacy for requiring all students in the state of Texas to participate in civics projects, which ask students to engage with problems in the community, research the root of the problems, design a strategy to solve the problem, and reach out to the correct level of government to advocate for change. This type of civics education aligns with what I find with my dissertation—that students who are given opportunities for empowerment and to use their voice in high school are more likely to vote later in life.
Along with a group of students from St. Edwards University, I designed an advocacy plan that included meetings with legislative offices, testimony at committee hearings, a rally and lobby day at the capitol, and social media campaigns. We successfully got the bill authored and introduced in the House, which is passed with overwhelming approval. Unfortunately, the session ended before the bill could be considered in the Senate, but we plan to reintroduce the bill in 2021.
Press Coverage