Ela Joshi

SENIOR Education Researcher, SRI Education

Ela Joshi, PhD, specializes in mixed-methods studies that aim to understand, examine, and improve how people interact with and within schools, school districts, and other education organizations. Joshi has a decade of experience in conducting studies that examine how students and teachers experience program implementation, how social networks and networked improvement communities bring education innovations to scale, and how innovative programs and policies impact students from historically underserved groups. Her research experience includes evaluations of programs that enhance teacher effectiveness and leadership as well as school efforts to improve equity and access for students from socially significant populations.  

At SRI, Joshi serves as the principal investigator of rigorous program evaluations and descriptive studies, designing study procedures and developing logic models, measures of implementation fidelity, qualitative and quantitative data collection instruments, and mixed-methods analysis plans. Across her projects, Joshi leads the collection, analysis, and reporting of complex qualitative and quantitative data and has fluency interfacing with research participants from a variety of backgrounds, positions, and locales. Joshi provides exceptional client- and user-focused services, including creating meaningful research products grounded in rigorous analyses. She employs creativity, resourcefulness, and curiosity to solve complex problems with project teams. 

Joshi earned her PhD in education policy and leadership from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development, where she served as a doctoral research assistant on four mixed-methods research-practice partnerships. She earned her MEd in elementary education from Arizona State University and her BA from Rutgers University. Joshi was a fifth-grade teacher in Phoenix, Arizona. 

Key projects

• Leveraging Evidence to Accelerate Recovery Nationwide (LEARN) Network 
• Postsecondary Teaching with Technology Collaborative 
• Study of the Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Partnership 
• Scaling Open Educational Resources in Postsecondary Institutions 
• Open and Equitable Education Practices in a State-Led Program 

Selected publications

• Scaling Open Education: Institutional Strategies and the Emerging Role of GenAI
• Unpacking the Relationship Between Classroom Teacher Characteristics and Time to English Learner Reclassification
• Students’ and Instructors’ Experiences with Open and Culturally Responsive Instruction: Findings from a State OER Program
• Computational Literacy Across Secondary Settings (CLASS) Program: A Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) Grant Evaluation