William R. Johnston Curriculum Vitae 143 Forest Hills St #2 Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 (415)999-0618 wrj368@mail.harvard.edu Education Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA Doctoral Candidate in Culture, Communities, and Education, 2009-2015 (expected) o Dissertation Title: The Roots of Opting Out: Family, School, and Neighborhood Characteristics Associated with Non-Local School Choices o Methodological Coursework: Applied Statistical Analysis with Latent Variables: Path Analysis, Factor Analysis, and Structural Equation Modeling; Quantitative Methods for Improving Causal Inference in Educational Research o Substantive Coursework: Strategies and Policies for Narrowing Racial Achievement Gaps; Education Organizing; Social Stratification; Microeconomics of Education; Race, Class, and Educational Inequality; The History of Education in the United States; Social Structure and Culture in the Study of Race and Inequality; Independent Research: Social Capital University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA M.S.Ed in Secondary English Education, 2001 The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH B.A. in English, Minor in Spanish, summa cum laude, 2000 Research Experience 2011-Present 2011-Present 2012-Present Senior Statistical and Data Analysis Specialist, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Information Technologies Department Methodological training and consultation service for Harvard faculty, students, and research staff regarding statistical analysis and program syntax with Stata, R, ArcGIS, Mplus, NVivo and Atlas.ti Graduate Research Assistant, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development, Tufts University. PI: Tama Leventhal Multi-level modeling and data management in Stata, Mplus and R Secondary analysis of data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (LA FANS), Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) Research Assistant, Genotype-by-Social Environment in Depressive
Symptoms, Harvard School of Pubic Health, PI: S.V. Subramanian & Erin Dunn Multi-level modeling in Mplus, data management in Stata, and manuscript writing and editing for a project on neighborhood social processes and youth outcomes using secondary data from the Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey 2010 Research Assistant, Distinctively Good Schools Research Project, Harvard Graduate School of Education. PI: Jal Mehta Study design and conceptualization and initial exploratory research of this study of disparate notions and examples of good schooling in the United States. Public Policy Experience 2011 Policy Intern, Texas Education Agency, Austin, TX Working under the Deputy Commissioner for Statewide Policy and Programs, I drafted official Requests for Quotes for a state-approved partnership program for school turnaround and researched nationwide examples of school turnaround programs, state approaches to Title I and Title II implementation, and networks of practice among exemplary and turnaround schools and districts. 2010 Research Consultant, Office of School Redesign, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Malden, MA Working under the Deputy Commissioner, Office of School Redesign, I researched grant monitoring processes within the department and other states to inform Massachusetts administration of the federal School Turnaround Implementation Grant Program. Teaching Experience 2009-2014 Harvard University, Cambridge, MA Teaching Fellow: o Dilemmas of Excellence and Equity in American K-12 Education with Professor Katherine Merseth, Spring 2014 o Applied Statistical Analysis with Latent Variables: Path Analysis, Factor Analysis, and Structural Equation Modeling with Assistant Professor Katherine Masyn, Fall 2012 o Applied Data Analysis with Professor John Willett, Spring 2011 o Introduction to Education Policy with Assistant Professor Jal Mehta, Fall 2009 and Fall 2010 o Teaching History, Political Science, and/or Social Studies with Assistant Professor Meira Levinson, Fall 2009 Facilitator:
o Closing the Achievement Gap Program in Professional Education with Senior Lecturer Ron Ferguson, Summer 2011 2011-2014 Research and Infrastructure Technologies Group, Information Technologies Department, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA Workshop Instructor: o Introduction to Stata o Data Mangement and Cleaning in Stata o Graphics and Tables in Stata o Longitudinal Data Analysis in Stata o Introduction to R o Intermediate R Programming o Introduction to Atlas.ti o Introduction to Mplus o Introduction to NVivo o Methods of Inter-Rater Reliability 2005-2009 Gateway High School, San Francisco, CA Teacher and Department Chair, Humanities Department o Humanities 9: World Cultures o AP U.S. History o Civics 2000-2005 Nueva Esperanza Academy Charter High School, Philadelphia, PA Teacher and Department Chair, Social Studies Department o U.S. History o Civics o English 9, World Lit o English 10, World Lit II Publications Johnston, W.R. (under review). Assessing the benefits of a rising tide: Educational attainment and increases in neighborhood socioeconomic advantage Johnston, W.R., Leventhal, T., & Anderson, S. (in preparation) Exposure to neighborhood socioeconomic status and children s development Dunn, E.C., Masyn, K.E., Johnston, W.J., Subramanian, S.V. (under review). Multi-level factor analysis (MLFA): An emerging analytic method to model environments using individual level data without aggregation. Johnston, W. R. (in preparation) The gravity of race: Racial preferences and the push and pull of schools in an intradistrict open enrollment policy context
Reich, J., Levinson, M., & Johnston, W.R. (2011). Using Online Social Networks to Foster Preservice Teachers Membership in a Networked Community of Praxis. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 11, 382 397. Academic Presentations Johnston, W.R. (2015, February). The Gravity of Race: Push and Pull Factors in an Open Enrollment School Choice System. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Sociology of Education Association, Pacific Grove, CA. Johnston, W.R. (2014, December). Kindergarten Preferences among Families in Boston s Open Enrollment School Choice System, 2010-2012. Poster presented at Understanding and Improving Cities: Policy/Research Partnerships for the Digital Age, Boston, MA. Johnston, W.R. (2014, March). Developmental Differences in the Association between Neighborhood SES and Children s Outcomes. Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA), Austin, TX. Johnston, W.R. (2013, November). Educational Attainment and Neighborhood-Level Economic Growth. Paper presented at the Fall Meeting of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM), Washington D.C.. Johnston, W.R. (2013, April). Timing of Exposure to Neighborhood Socioeconomic Conditions and Children s Development. Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development (SRCD), Seattle, WA. Johnston, W.R. (2013, March). Timing of Exposure to Neighborhood Socioeconomic Conditions and Cognitive Ability. Paper presented at the Harvard Graduate School of Education Student Research Conference, Cambridge, MA. Johnston, W.R. (2012, April). Assessing the benefits of a rising tide: The educational benefits of neighborhood-level economic growth. Paper presented at the Harvard Graduate School of Education Student Research Conference, Cambridge, MA. Johnston, W.R. (2012, April). The Educational Impact of Neighborhood Economic Growth. Paper presented to the Harvard University s Urban Social Processes Workshop, Cambridge, MA. Fellowships and Awards
2014 Certificate of Distinction in Teaching from the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences 2013 Urban Doctoral Fellowship from the Boston Area Research Initiative at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study: $6,000 2010-2011 Gordon M. Ambach Policy Fellowship from the Council of Chief State School Officers: $20,000 2010 Education Pioneers Graduate Fellowship: $7,000 Skills Research Software Quantitative: Stata, R, and MPlus Qualitative: Atlas.ti and NVivo Spatial: ArcGIS Languages Proficient in Spanish Service Harvard Graduate School of Education Member, Research Technology Working Group, 2013-2014 Member, Doctoral Admissions Committee, 2012-2013 admission cycle Member, HGSE Student Research Conference Proposal Review Board, 2012 Advisor and Instructional Coach, Harvard Teacher Education Program, 2009-2010 Member, Teaching Fellow Advisory Board, 2010 Gateway High School Co-chair, Humanities Department, 2006-2009 Member, Board of Trustees, 2007-2009 Chair, Trustee Community Outreach Committee, 2007-2009 Member, Trustee Education Committee, 206-2009 Nueva Esperanza Academy Charter High School Chair, Social Students Department, 2003-2005 Chair, Academics Committee, 2003-2005 Founder and Director, Student Internship Program, 2002-2004 Member, Principal s Leadership Team, 2002-2005
References Nancy E. Hill Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education Suzanne Young Murray Professor, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies (617)496-1182 nancy_hill@gse.harvard.edu Tama Leventhal Associate Professor, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development, Tufts University (617)627-3355 tama.levethal@tufts.edu John B. Willett Charles William Eliot Professor of Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education 617-496-4829 john_willett@gse.harvard.edu