RACHEL ESTRELLA, Senior Project Associate

Education
B.A, Psychology and Mass Communications, University of Califonia, Berkeley
Ph.D., Education, University of Califonia, Los Angeles

Professional Background
Rachel joined Fern Tiger Associates in 2007, after completing her Ph.D. in Education at UCLA. A Ford Fellow, Rachel’s research interests center upon issues of educational access and equity in general and, more specifically, on the use of the arts as a tool for civic dialogue and social and political empowerment. While at UCLA, Rachel was a lead researcher on a joint project with Harvard University whose goal was to put together a comprehensive picture of arts education research over the past 30 years. Funded by the Arts Education Partnership and the NEA, this project culminated in a research compendium entitled Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development. Rachel was also a lead researcher for Out of the Loop, a project funded by the NSF that examines why so few African Americans, Latinos/as, and females study computer science at the high school level. Through a series of focus groups with students and one-on-one interviews with teachers, administrators, and students, this study examines high school segregation in a digital age, highlighting the gross inequities in education in general, and overturning the myths that the digital divide is “narrowing” and that technology is leveling the playing field for low-income students of color. Rachel is currently co-authoring Stuck in the Shallow End, a book based on these findings, which will be released by MIT Press in 2008.
Rachel also served as an education advisor for the Digital Coast Roundtable, a group of leaders in the New Media industry who were interested in the state of technology, education, and the arts in public schools in California. To that end, she studied the needs of the new media academies in the L. A. Unified School District. Rachel’s report, Promising Partnerships: Progress in New Media Academies led to the creation of a more structured relationship between new media educators and industry leaders. This includes quarterly meetings between teachers and industry leaders as well as the creation of a web-based forum through which teachers can communicate with each other and with industry leaders about successes as well as challenges. This resulted in more effective dealings with district bureaucracy, more dynamic teaching and curriculum development, increased internship opportunities within the media industry, and heightened teacher morale.
Since joining FTA, Rachel has worked on multiple projects, with a wide range of clients, including the California Child Care Resource & Referral Network, the Human Resources Council of Calaveras County, 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica, the Institute for Human and Social Development in San Mateo County, and Wu Yee Children’s Services in San Francisco. Rachel is an effective communicator with strong writing and analytical skills. Her training and experience as a teacher and researcher, combined with her experience working with multiple, diverse communities and across disciplines, brings a unique and valuable skill set to the clients she serves.