Four CCRC Researchers Earn Degrees From Teachers College

Four Teachers College students who worked for CCRC during their studies and made significant contributions to our research projects are graduating this week.

As research assistants and associates, they organized and participated in field work, crunched numbers, collected and analyzed qualitative data, wrote drafts, made presentations, and performed many other vital tasks. Indeed, CCRC would grind to a halt without them.

“While we devote a great deal of attention to the goals of community college students, we are also wholly committed to providing a foundation on which our own TC graduate students can achieve their goals,” said CCRC Director Thomas Bailey. “At this time of year, we are immensely proud of our students who are graduating. They should be proud as well. Congratulations, and we look forward to working with you as colleagues and to being impressed by your many accomplishments.”

CCRC’s 2018 Graduates

Diana Cruz earned a master’s in education policy with a concentration in higher education and will be joining CCRC full-time as a senior research assistant. She started at CCRC in October 2017 as a research assistant and worked on studies of system and statewide ESL reforms as well as on student persistence and success.

Hana Lahr completed her PhD in education policy with a dissertation looking at the inner workings of education foundations titled Policymaking for College Completion: How Foundations Develop Their Education Agendas.

Lahr, a research associate, is a senior member of CCRC’s large team researching guided pathways reforms in several states. She started at CCRC in May 2011 and spent several years researching state-level performance funding systems.

Florence Xiaotao Ran was awarded a PhD in economics and education. The focus of her studies was using experimental and quasi-experimental methods to answer policy-relevant questions in higher education. Her dissertation is Essays on Instructor Quality in Higher Education.

Ran has worked at CCRC for six and a half years as a senior research assistant. Her work focused on teaching and learning in higher education and effective pathways to completion for community college students. She has accepted a position as a postdoctoral research associate at CCRC.

Susha Roy earned a master’s in economics and education and will start a PhD program in economics and education in the fall at Harvard University. Her studies at Teachers College focused on inequality in K-12 education and the interaction of social policies and educational outcomes.

A senior research assistant at CCRC, Roy started in September 2016 and worked on several projects, including the multiple measures project for the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Readiness (CAPR) and a project on digital access and academic outcomes.