Current Students

Trevor Baisden is a Ph.D. student in Education Policy (K-12) at Teachers College, Columbia University, where he also helps lead the annual Washington, D.C.-based Federal Policy Institute. His research interests include the institutional and organizational dynamics of school change and policy implementation, federal K-12 policy, and issues in both private and public school choice, especially charter schools. Trevor began his career as a teacher, and later founded and led the History program at a New York City-based charter school network. He has since led consulting projects focused on school design, innovation, and instructional improvement in over 50 charter and district systems across more than a dozen states and Washington, D.C.

Melissa Herman is a PhD student in the education policy program at Teachers College and a senior research assistant at the CCRC, where she is engaged in research on first-generation college students. She also conducts qualitative and quantitative research on college access, transition, and persistence within large public higher education systems. Prior to enrolling at TC, she was the director of Graduate NYC, a college access and completion initiative housed at the City University of New York.

Prior to Graduate NYC, Herman was the associate director for partnership support at PENCIL, overseeing a team of partnership managers and developing the organization’s college and career readiness programming. During her tenure at PENCIL, she worked extensively within the New York City public school system on strategic partnership development, as well as college readiness and project-based learning programming for students.

Sierra McCormick is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis at Teachers College, Columbia University and a Research Assistant at the Consortium of Policy Research in Education (CPRE). She is interested in examining the intersecting roles of race, class, and place to understand how school segregation and desegregation, school choice, and neighborhood change shape and constrain opportunities for historically marginalized students. Prior to joining CPRE, Sierra worked as a Research Associate at WestEd and the Regional Education Laboratory, Northwest, contributing to all aspects of research, technical assistance, and evaluation projects.

Rebecca Shmoys is a Ph.D. student in Education Policy at Teachers College, Columbia University, and a Researcher at the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE). Her research interests include examining how policies and practices intended to address inequity, both in the K-12 setting and postsecondary transition, impact student outcomes, with a particular interest in intentionally diverse schools and school choice.

Prior to TC, Rebecca worked as an Assistant Principal at Valor Collegiate Academies. She previously taught middle school math and algebra in Nashville, Tennessee. She has also served as a Federal Analyst at Deloitte Consulting.