Ashley Woo

Ashley Woo
Assistant Policy Researcher, RAND, and Ph.D. Candidate, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Santa Monica Office

Education

B.A. in political economy, University of California, Berkeley

Overview

Ashley Woo is an assistant policy researcher at RAND and a Ph.D. student at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Her research interests include wealth and income inequality, educational equity, neighborhood and school segregation, teacher recruitment and retention, education curriculum, and standards-based school reform.

Prior to joining Pardee RAND, she worked for KIPP LA Schools, where she taught second grade at a South Los Angeles charter school. In addition, she is a Teach for America alumna, having completed two years of teaching at a Title I elementary school in Miami, Florida. As a former educator, she is experienced in standards-based and data-driven instruction, curriculum design, and tailoring teaching methods to support specific academic and social-emotional student needs.

She has a B.A. in political economy and a minor in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley, where she also conducted research on how American educational outcomes compare to those of other wealthy, industrialized nations in terms of both equity and levels of student achievement.

Commentary

  • Education Policy

    Amplifying Teachers' Voices: Q&A with Ashley Woo

    Ashley Woo, an assistant policy researcher at RAND and a Ph.D. candidate at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, aims to bring teachers' perspectives into policymaking. In this interview, she discusses her research on teachers' responses to state restrictions on how they can address topics related to race and gender in the classroom.

    Mar 16, 2023

  • Teachers and Teaching

    Keeping Teachers of Color in the Classroom Will Take More Than a Pay Raise

    All students—but particularly Black and Latinx students—benefit academically and socially from having teachers who are people of color. Policymakers and education leaders can help these teachers stay in the profession by making teaching more financially sustainable and fostering collegial relationships within school communities.

    Dec 1, 2022

    Word in Black

Publications