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Dr. Beth Davis
(she/her/hers)
PhD, George Mason University
Postdoctoral Fellows

Contact Information

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Email: edavis32 (@gmu.edu)

George Mason University
Fairfax Campus
Thompson Hall
4400 University Dr.
MS 4C2
Fairfax, VA 22030

Profile

Beth Davis is a Postdoctoral Fellow at EdPolicyForward: The Center for Education Policy at George Mason University. Her research background includes conducting research for national nonprofits and foundations, evaluating programs to advance racial and gender diversity in computer science, co-designing a community-based participatory action study with immigrant families on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and building the first national dataset on newcomer schools using a range of publicly available data sources.

Her research is informed by past experiences working with Emerging Bilingual students and their families as a school-based family and community outreach liaison. Through this work, Dr. Davis launched efforts to coordinate services across the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia for recently arrived youth, bringing together school leaders, service agencies and local government agencies to identify needs and coordinate services across organizations and identify recommendations for shifts in policy and practice driven by youth leaders. Previously, Dr. Davis worked in Guatemala with indigenous women's cooperatives throughout the country and led an educational program in El Salvador. Beth received her PhD from George Mason University, where she completed her AERA-funded dissertation, “The National Emergence of Newcomer Schools: Their Growth, Characteristics and Outcomes.” 

Research Interests

Newcomer schools

Multilingual Learners

Family and community engagement

Immigration and education policy 

Recent Publications

Davis, E. (2024). Upholding privilege in U.S. education systems: The invisibility of immigrant origin students in education data. In K.L. McFaden & S.C. Hardee (Eds.), Privilege in America ABC-CLIO/Bloomsbury. (in press)

Vesely, C.K., Letiecq, B.L., Davis, E., DeMulder, E., Marquez, M., Goodman, R., Grodi, L., & Amigas de la Comunidad. (2023). “The spirit of a fighter”: Mixed-status Latine immigrant families’ work, child care, and education experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Family Relations.

Letiecq, B.L., Davis E., Vesely, C.K., Goodman, R., Zeledon, D. & Marquez, M. (2022). Central American immigrant mothers’ narratives of intersecting oppressions: A resistant knowledge project. Journal of Marriage and Family, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1111/jomf.12854

Davis, E. & Letiecq, B. (2021). Same dreams, different realities: Leveraging community-based participatory research to support newcomers and their families. American Journal of Education Forum.

Vesely, C.K., DeMulder, E., Sansbury, A., Davis, E., Letiecq, B.L., Willard, I., Goodman, R., & Amigas de la Comunidad. (2021). ‘A place where my children could learn to read, write, and play’: The search for early care and education among undocumented Central American immigrant mothers. Early Childhood Research Quarterly.

Campus Affiliations

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