Ela Joshi

SENIOR Education Researcher, SRI Education

Ela Joshi, PhD, specializes in mixed-methods studies that aim to understand, examine and improve how people interact with and within schools, school districts and other education organizations. Joshi has a decade of experience in conducting studies that examine how students and teachers experience program implementation, how social networks and networked improvement communities bring education innovations to scale and how innovative programs and policies impact students from historically underserved groups. Her research experience includes evaluations of programs that enhance teacher effectiveness and leadership as well as school efforts to improve equity and access for students from socially significant populations.

At SRI, Joshi designs and executes rigorous program evaluations and descriptive studies, including developing logic models, measures of implementation fidelity, qualitative and quantitative data collection instruments and mixed-methods analysis plans. Across her projects, Joshi leads the collection, analysis and reporting of complex qualitative and quantitative data and has fluency interfacing with research participants from a variety of backgrounds, positions and locales. Joshi provides exceptional client- and user-focused services, including creating meaningful research products grounded in rigorous analyses. She employs creativity, resourcefulness, and curiosity to solve complex problems with project teams. Joshi earned her PhD in education policy and leadership from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development, where she served as a doctoral research assistant on four mixed-methods research–practice partnerships. She earned her MEd in elementary education from Arizona State University and her BA from Rutgers University. Joshi was a fifth-grade teacher in Phoenix, Arizona.

Key projects

• Math and Computational Thinking through 3D Making (MPACT) Program
• Leveraging Evidence to Accelerate Recovery Nationwide (LEARN) Network
• Examination of a State-Led Effort to Support Open & Equitable Practices in Tennessee
• Computational Literacy Across Secondary Settings (CLASS) Project
• CoolThink@JC Phase II Implementation Study

Selected publications

• In the NIC of Time: How Sustainable Are Networked Improvement Communities?*
• Consequences of Administrative Burden for Social Safety Nets That Support the Healthy Development of Children*
• “Set in stone” or “willing to grow”? Teacher sensemaking during a growth mindset initiative*
• Student-teacher race congruence: New evidence and insight from Tennessee*
• Mapping inequalities in local political representation: Evidence from Ohio school boards*
• World of Whistleblowing: From the altruist to the avenger*