Shirley Xu, a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in Education Policy and Leadership at Peabody College, has been honored as a 2024-2025 National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellow. This fellowship grants $27,500 to 35 fellows from various disciplines and professional fields who are working on dissertation projects that bring innovative and insightful approaches to the history, theory, analysis, or application of formal and informal education. Shirley’s research for her dissertation involves using a mixed-methods design to explore public opinion formation and political mobilization within Asian American communities in response to controversial admissions reforms at selective public high schools across the United States. Her study will draw on data from interviews and a unique survey experiment to investigate how Asian American community members and activists perceive redistributive admissions policies, how they are mobilized in support or opposition to these policies, and how issue framing and policy design impact their level of support.
Congratulations Shirley!