About
Dr. Samantha Viano
I critically examine endemic challenges in PreK-12 schools and the policies schools adopt in response, with the dual goals of contextualizing the nature of these problems and evaluating the effects of the chosen solutions on traditionally marginalized and racially minoritized students and their teachers.
Specific research strands that fall within this agenda include school improvement, school safety and security, teacher mobility, and online credit recovery. I also study how to better integrate critical theory into quantitative analysis in educational research, especially in relation to measurement of race/ethnicity.
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I am an assistant professor in the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University. I earned her PhD in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College after an MSEd from Northwestern University. My research has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals including the American Educational Research Journal, Educational Evaluation & Policy Analysis, and Review of Research in Education.
My research has been funded by the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Justice. Dr. Viano received the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship and the National Science Foundation’s CAREER Award.
