About ImmigrantEdNext
In 2022, she was named a William T. Grant Scholar to conduct a longitudinal study about how schools manage the welcome of newcomer immigrant youth. For her work to date, Rodriguez received the Early Career Award for Division G (Social Contexts of Education) in the American Educational Research Association.
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My hope with this website is it will be a space to share research, resources, and space to improve the lives and outcomes of immigrant youth. As migration continues to a global process, schools and community spaces are critical for belonging and inclusion, and as researchers and advocates, we have to be thinking about how to continually interrogate systems of oppression and reduce inequality for immigrant students in education. What's next?
Sophia Rodriguez is an Associate Professor in Urban Education at the University of Maryland, College Park. In the Fall 2024, she will transition to New York University as an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies. She looks forward to continuing collaborations across the mid-Atlantic as she builds new relationships and expands research in the New York area. Dr. Rodriguez started her education career as a middle school teacher in New York City Public Schools and is excited to return to NYC and advance educational equity.
Dr. Rodriguez's interdisciplinary scholarship, drawing on tools from education and sociology, asks questions about the social and cultural contexts of education policy and practice. Her integrated research agenda addresses issues related to racial equity, urban education and policy, and centralizes minoritized youth voices. Her longitudinal projects utilize mixed-methods and ethnographic designs to investigate how community-school partnerships, teachers, and school-based mental health professionals promote equity and advocate for undocumented, unaccompanied (im)migrant and refugee youth. Her scholarly work has appeared in Educational Researcher, Sociology of Race & Ethnicity, Teachers College Record and Urban Education.
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