Education Systems Change Through School Improvement Organizations
Eos Trinidad, Professor
Education
Applications for Spring 2024 are closed for this project.
This research is a mixed-methods US and international research project, understanding the role of “outside school” organizations on education systems and school improvement. In particular, we study the role of philanthropic, research, non-profit, school support, and volunteer organizations in education. There are three sub-projects that students can work in: (1) a study of civil society organizations in American education, (2) a study of the expansion of Teach for America to sixty other countries, and (3) a comparative study of civil society ecosystems in Southeast Asia [primarily the Philippines and Malaysia].
When most studies of education focus on what happens inside schools, this research focuses on the larger albeit often invisible ecosystem of what happens outside schools and how these affect schools, teachers, and students. This project uses both quantitative data from organizational tax returns and qualitative data from interviews and organizational websites. This will be a great research opportunity for students who want to be mentored in doing a social science or education research project, particularly those who want to learn both qualitative coding and quantitative research analysis.
Role: The undergraduate students will be tasked to do: (1) collecting, transcribing, and coding of interviews and website data, (2) guided analysis of quantitative data, (3) literature review of articles connected to the research, and (4) weekly meetings. Work hours are flexible and can be negotiated.
At the end of the semester, the student will have learned the following skills: (a) qualitative coding and analysis of research data, (b) descriptive and inferential quantitative analysis for social scientific research, (c) critical assessment of research literature, (d) summarization of key concepts to create a conceptual framework, and (e) writing skills for social scientific research.
Qualifications: We are looking for students who are: (1) interested in social science and/or education research, (2) invested in educational improvement and systems change, and (3) able to work with a group of hardworking students and research mentors.
Hours: 6-8 hrs
Off-Campus Research Site: The work will have a hybrid set-up, where we can have both Zoom and in-person meetings (at our new building on 2121 Berkeley Way). Students can also do the work remotely
Social Sciences Education, Cognition & Psychology