Ela Joshi, PhD, is a mixed-methods researcher whose work examines how people interact with and within organizations. She is particularly interested in programs enhancing teacher effectiveness and teacher leadership as well as school reform efforts improving equity and access for students from socially significant populations. Joshi has experience in quantitative, extant data analysis, and qualitative methodologies.

At SRI, Joshi contributes to several studies, including the evaluation of the National Writing Project’s Investing in Innovation (i3) Scale-up grant implementing the College, Career, and Community Writers Program (C3WP), the evaluation of the Barr Foundation’s Engage New England Initiative, and the study of the Math and Computation Thinking through 3D Making (MPACT) Program.

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 research assistant on four mixed-methods research-practice partnerships. Joshi also earned her MEd in elementary education from Arizona State University and her BA in philosophy, with dual minors in economics and digital communication from Rutgers University. Joshi taught fifth grade in Phoenix, Arizona.

Key projects

1. Evaluation of the National Writing Project’s College, Career, and Community Writers Program (C3WP) Scale-Up
2. Evaluation of the Barr Foundation’s Engage New England Initiative
3. Math and Computational Thinking through 3D Making (MPACT) Program
4. Computational Literacy Across Secondary Settings (CLASS) Project
5. Improving Teaching and Learning with Open Educational Resources Project

Publications

1. In the NIC of Time: How Sustainable Are Networked Improvement Communities?*
2. Consequences of Administrative Burden for Social Safety Nets That Support the Healthy Development of Children*
3. “Set in stone” or “willing to grow”? Teacher sensemaking during a growth mindset initiative*
4. Student-teacher race congruence: New evidence and insight from Tennessee*
5. Mapping inequalities in local political representation: Evidence from Ohio school boards*
6. The world of whistleblowing*

*Publication written prior to SRI employment