Laura Davis is a Senior Research Scientist at the UChicago Consortium. As part of a larger study of organizational factors that influence school improvement across contexts, her current work investigates the ways teachers, administrators, and district leaders conceptualize and make use of data related to school climate. Laura’s research centers broadly on the production of inequality in education, targeting intersections between teacher practice and the schooling experiences of students from marginalized and historically underserved communities. She is co-PI on a longitudinal study examining the college and career development trajectories of first-generation students from structurally disadvantaged backgrounds. Before joining the UChicago Consortium, Laura served as the Assistant Director of New York University’s Center for Research on Higher Education Outcomes, where she oversaw research and evaluation on teacher education and managed a portfolio of externally funded projects. Laura worked previously as an elementary classroom teacher in Los Angeles and now teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in literacy, language development, and social foundations of education.
