Kathryn Hill is Research Director at the Research Alliance for New York City Schools. As a mixed methods researcher, Dr. Hill has experience with both qualitative and quantitative approaches, including case studies, interviews, network analysis, and quasi-experimental designs. Dr. Hill contributes to a number of projects for the Research Alliance related to equity in computer science education, with a particular focus on the implementation of culturally responsive CS instruction for students who have been historically marginalized in the field–such as Black and Latinx students and girls. She serves as the principal investigator for a Google-funded study: Examining and Addressing Barriers that Hinder Schools’ Progress Toward CS for All, a Co-Principal Investigator for an NSF-funded study to design and validate measures of culturally responsive-sustaining education in CS instruction, and as the lead qualitative researcher for our evaluation of NYC’s districtwide CS4All initiative. She has also led research projects examining the causes and consequences of inequality for historically disadvantaged NYC students more broadly, such as studies of homelessness in elementary school, summer meals programs, and the pathways and outcomes of “persisting” high school students.
Dr. Hill studied Sociology and Education, and earned her Ph.D. from Teacher’s College, Columbia University. During her graduate studies, she was awarded the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Dissertation Grant for her dissertation project, which examined the trust that Black parents place both in their child’s school and the overarching New York City school system, in the context of education reform efforts and the gentrification of many historically Black neighborhoods. She also holds an M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a B.A. in History and Literature from Harvard University. Prior to her work in research, Dr. Hill was an educator in New York City, serving as both a 7th grade ELA teacher and a High School Academic Director for CitySquash, an after-school enrichment program.