Kyo Yamashiro

Assistant Professor

Los Angeles CA UNITED STATES

Department of Educational Leadership and Administration

Biography

Prior to joining the LMU faculty, Professor Yamashiro was Associate Research Professor in the School of Educational Studies at Claremont Graduate University, where she also served as the director of the Urban Leadership PhD Program. Her research has primarily focused on applied research, where she aims to focus rigorous and relevant research on key problems of practice, to enable the improvement of student outcomes, such as in her work in a research-practice partnership with Los Angeles Unified School District through the non-profit she co-founded, the Los Angeles Education Research Institute (LAERI). Her research interests include college readiness; school and classroom climates; choice and charter schools; accountability systems; and defining, measuring, and evaluating progress and success for schools and programs, and her research has appeared in such publications as the Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR) and Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, and some of the policy/research reports she has co-authored have been reported on by local news outlets, such as the LA Times and KPCC radio. She has conducted research on a variety of education policy issues at nonprofit research organizations, such as WestEd, SRI International, and other university research centers (CRESST at UCLA and WCER at University of Wisconsin-Madison). She has also dedicated her efforts at improving systems through research by working in large, urban districts, directing evaluation activities in Long Beach Unified School District, and overseeing choice and charter school programs as the Director of School Choice in San Diego Unified School District.

Education

University of California, Los Angeles

PhD

Social Research Methodology

2006

Stanford University

Education Policy and Administration

1985

Stanford University

English Literature

1994

Areas of Expertise

College Readiness

School and Classroom Climates

Choice and Charter Schools

Accountability Systems

Defining, measuring, and evaluating progress and success for schools and programs

Industry Expertise

Research

Education/Learning

Accomplishments

UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies Outstanding Dissertation Award (2006)

“Measuring school performance: The intersection of accountability policy and complexity theory.”
Dissertation committee: Mike Rose (co-chair), Noreen Webb (co-chair), Marvin Alkin, Susanne Lohmann, Michael Seltzer

Affiliations

Los Angeles Education Research Institute (LAERI)
American Educational Research Association (AERA)
National Network of Education Research-Practice Partnerships (NNERPP)

Articles

College Going in LAUSD: An Analysis of College Enrollment, Persistence, and Completion Patterns

Los Angeles Education Research Institute Executive Summary and Research Report

Phillips, M., Yamashiro, K., Jacobson, T.A. (2017)

This report provides a first look at college enrollment, persistence, and completion for Los Angeles Unified School District (LA Unified) graduates, and examines patterns of college going based on students’ racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and academic backgrounds.

College Readiness Supports in LAUSD High Schools: A First Look

Los Angeles Education Research Institute Executive Summary and Research Report

Phillips, M., Yamashiro, K., Miller, C.E. (2017)

This report describes college readiness supports for high school students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LA Unified). We describe the evolution of district policies focused on helping students prepare academically for college. We then describe supports related to building students’ college knowledge, such as learning about colleges, preparing for college entrance exams, completing college and financial aid applications, and registering for and enrolling in college. We conclude with a discussion of the challenges schools face in fostering college readiness, and implications for policy and practice.

Using Research to Improve College Readiness: A Research Partnership between the Los Angeles Unified School District and and the Los Angeles Education Research Institute

Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR)

Phillips, M., Yamashiro, K., Farrukh, A., Lim, C., Hayes, K., Wagner, N., Chen, H.

2015-03-31

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) serves a large majority of socioeconomically disadvantaged students who are struggling academically and are underprepared for high school graduation and college. This article describes the partnership between LAUSD and the Los Angeles Education Research Institute, and how this collaboration endeavors to produce accessible and high-quality research to inform pressing problems of practice. The article also presents findings from an ongoing partnership research project analyzing a district policy focused on improving college readiness by aligning high school graduation and college-eligibility requirements. In a cohort that went through high school before the policy became mandatory for all students, less than 1/5 of all students (and 30% of graduates) met the college eligibility criteria. Our findings indicate that academic and behavioral indicators from 8th and 9th grade can help identify for possible intervention students who are not on track to meet these new graduation requirements.