Three doctoral candidates from the Graduate School of Education — Elizabeth Buckner, Lorien Chambers Schuldt and Jon Valant — are among 20 outstanding scholars nationwide who have been chosen to receive National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowships for the 2013-14 academic year.

These highly competitive awards are given each year to students undertaking dissertation research relevant to the improvement of education. The program identifies researchers whose dissertations show potential for bringing new perspectives to the history, theory or practice of education anywhere in the world. Fellows receive $25,000, and are invited to professional development retreats with members of the National Academy of Education, the Spencer Foundation and other senior scholars. Out of over 400 applicants, just about five percent were offered NAEd/Spencer dissertation fellowships this year, according to Susan R. Goldman, chair of the fellowship selection committee.

Elizabeth Buckner is a fifth-year PhD candidate specializing in International and Comparative Education and Sociology and Education. Buckner has studied various aspects of globalization’s effect on education, including the textbook portrayals of globalization, the growth of English language learning and the privatization of higher education. Her dissertation, Privatizing the Public Good: The Worldwide Growth of Private Higher Education, examines how, when and why nations around the world expand their private higher education sectors. Her study uses both cross-national data and in-depth case studies of the process of higher education policy reform in Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. Buckner received a doctoral dissertation improvement grant from the National Science Foundation to examine changes in global development rhetoric and to compile a database of university enrollments in public and private universities worldwide from 1955-2010. She has also received dissertation research grants to carry out fieldwork in Jordan, Tunisia and Morocco from the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, the American Institute for Maghrib Studies and the National Security Education Program. Her advisor is Francisco Ramirez, professor of education.

Lorien Chambers Schuldt, a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the Curriculum and Teacher Education program, examines how students develop literacy skills while acquiring English, particularly in the context of writing. Her dissertation, Talking About Writing: Teachers’ Oral Feedback to English Learners, explores the writing feedback that teachers provide to fourth grade English learners across mainstream classrooms and English Language Development support contexts. This work stems from her experiences as an elementary school teacher and builds on her interests in understanding the role of literacy instruction and classroom discourse in supporting students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Maren Aukerman, assistant professor of education, is her advisor.

Jon Valant is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in Educational Policy at Stanford University. He studies education policies and politics, primarily as they relate to educational inequity. His dissertation, The Politics of Policy: Who Influences Education Policy and What Motivates Them, examines key actors in education policymaking — including state-level political parties, parental school choosers and the American public — and how their varied interests and influence shape public policy and social outcomes. Valant also studies school choice, focusing both on how families choose schools and how schools of choice serve families. He has an Institute of Education Sciences fellowship, as part of the Stanford Interdisciplinary Doctoral Training Program in Quantitative Education Policy Analysis. His advisor is Susanna Loeb, the Barnett Family Professor of Education.

Travis Bristol, who received his master’s degree from the Stanford Teacher Education Program in 2004, also received a 2013-14 NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship. He is currently a PhD candidate at Teachers College Columbia University and serves as a clinical teacher educator with the Boston Teacher Residency Program. His dissertation, Men of the Classroom, explores how organizational conditions, characteristics and dynamics in schools affect the recruitment, experiences and retention of black male teachers. 

Amy Yuen writes frequently for the Graduate School of Education.