Bringing research to life: Meeting children’s educational needs through stakeholder collaboration
Lorena Aceves, Ph.D.
By Lorena Aceves, Ph.D.
Research Scientist, Child Trends
As a research scientist at Child Trends — a research organization focused on improving the lives of children in the U.S. — I’m focused on projects related to K-12 education.
While education is my predominant topic, I think about my work using a systems approach, which is where Family Science comes in. Kids don't just exist in the silo of education: They also exist in a family system that impacts how they navigate their educational system. If the child is growing in a healthy family system, they’ll thrive in school, and if school representatives understand what the home base looks like, they’re better able to support the child’s needs at school.
For example, one school district we’re working with is addressing how to engage their students’ families, who speak five different languages. The district only has so much bandwidth, but representatives want to make sure that the families can be engaged in their children’s education. We're working on strategies to make sure these families have a voice in the programs the school district is working to implement.
Day to day, my work can vary: Some days I’m running focus groups or having check-in calls with funders, while other days, I could be doing analyses or strictly writing because I’m working on a proposal with a team. But overall, I find it so exciting to work on things happening in real life, like partnering with school districts on how to engage families instead of thinking about the issues only from a theoretical perspective. It’s about understanding the real-life issues that families and schools are facing and creating solutions together.