During the rise of the BLM movement of 2020, confederate monuments became a focal point of national debate, with heightened awareness of their historical context and implications for racial equality. My research seeks to leverage this moment of increased attention to explore how the presence of symbols of marginalization near voting stations may impact voting intentions and overall experience. In this study, Black and White Americans are presented with a simulated map along with a set of instructions that lead them to a nearby polling station. In the experimental group, participants received a map featuring Confederate monuments while participants in the control group received a neutral map with directions that avoided any mention of Confederate monuments. Once the participant correctly identifies the voting station on the map, they are asked a series of questions not only on the usefulness of the map but also on factors such as safety, comfort, the value of the vote, personal belonging, and likelihood of voting. Findings suggest Black participants exposed to Confederate monuments expressed a diminished value of their vote and reduced intention to vote, whereas White participants indicated no changes in voting intentions, perception of vote value, or a desire to change voting locations. As an extension to this study, I am currently conducting a replication study where participants are explicitly informed that the map represents a neighborhood in the South. After navigating the map, participants are asked not only about the impact of factors such as comfort, safety, value, personal belonging, and the likelihood of voting but also regarding their relative importance and influence on voting behaviors and intentions. Collectively, these studies have important implications for racial disparities in voting intentions and for advancing a more inclusive and equitable electoral process within the United States.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted learning for students across the U.S., leading to a sharp decline in academic performance nationwide. Learning losses from the pandemic pose dire consequences on students’ future financial and social wellbeing as well as the health of the labor market as a whole. Policymakers have recognized the necessity of educational interventions such as high-dosage tutoring that can accelerate learning to make up for this gap, dedicating $122 Billion in funds for Elementary and Secondary School Relief (ESSER) as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The State of Ohio utilized ESSER funds by launching its Statewide Mathematics and Literacy Tutoring Grant, through which college students in teacher training programs are paid to tutor school students in small groups. I am analyzing the impacts of this Grant on educational achievement of Ohio’s students to determine whether it has been sufficient to overcome pandemic-induced learning losses. I hypothesize that schools that have received tutoring through Grant partnerships experience significantly higher growth in student achievement than those that do not. I utilize data from Ohio School Report Cards from 2013 to 2023, published by the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, to conduct a difference-in-differences analysis with propensity score matching. The findings of this study will enable critical analysis of educational policy efforts and their differential impacts on students of different backgrounds. Particularly, the study will provide insight into the efficacy and cost-efficiency of tutoring by “paraprofessional” teachers such as the college students who will receive payment through the Grant, which is not as well studied as tutoring by professional teachers. Finally, it will explore the feasibility of adapting reactionary educational interventions to programs that can help students in the long term.

In recent years, organizations have increasingly expressed support for efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Some of these efforts are informed by research on how to promote DEI, but much of this research on how to communicate and promote DEI in organizations fails to account for qualities of the communicator, that is, the diversity specialists charged with operationalizing and implementing DEI sentiments to improve organizational equity and inclusion. Critically, communicators bring their own social identities (e.g., gender, race) and experiences (e.g., status, power) to their work. This proposal aims to better understand how DEI personnel in the public sector experience their roles, understand their jobs and their ability to effect change, as well as consider how their personal identities interact with their work. We are conducting semi-structured interviews with DEI management personnel across cities in Pacific Northwest states (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska). Participants will be asked about their perceptions of their job responsibilities as well as their backgrounds and identity. We will be coding interview responses to examine the pressures that individuals feel in their jobs, constraints they experience in how they can advocate for DEI as a function of their social identities, how they conceptualize and communicate the importance of DEI. By better understanding the daily experiences of implementing DEI practices in organizations, this proposal aims to improve our understanding of efforts to improve DEI in public organizations.