Shanette Porter, PhD is Interim Deputy Director, Director of the Learning & Development Group at the UChicago Consortium, and Research Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago. Her research examines systems-level issues in education, with a particular focus on examining how school and classroom environments support learning and well-being, and promote positive student experience and long-run trajectories. This work sits at the intersection of developmental science, education policy, and measurement, and has been published in leading academic journals. Her work has been featured in a number of news outlets, including EdNext and The 74.
As the Director of the Consortium’s Learning & Development Group, Shanette has advanced the use of practical measures, tools, and resources that help educators and system leaders engage student voice and understand and strengthen the environments in which students learn and grow. She has led multiple research-practice partnerships with students, educators, and school system leaders that support this work and serves as the PI on the first Kersten Institute collaborative research project.
Shanette has contributed extensively to building the field of student experience and voice, advancing both the research base and the infrastructure needed to bring students’ perspectives into educational decision-making and school improvement. Her field-building work has included developing and leading national fellowship programs, as well as creating data and survey public goods, that strengthen the connections among research, practice, and policy on student experience.
She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research and Department of Psychology.
