Matthew Kraft is a third-year William T. Grant Scholar who has mentored junior researchers at the undergraduate and graduate levels. As a faculty member at Brown University he has directed eight undergraduate training awardees, employed over thirty undergraduate research assistants, and served as a senior advisor to graduate students. He identifies four learning goals related to mentoring: 1) develop his ability to mentor junior scholars to lead a series of research projects; 2) help junior scholars make strategic choices between multiple research opportunities; 3) gain a stronger sense of the career development issues facing junior colleagues of color; and 4) enhance his understanding about how issues of race and class inform teacher effectiveness and school organizational practices. The award will support his mentee, Benjamin West, a second year doctoral student in the Education Policy and Program Evaluation program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. West’s research seeks to improve measures of non-cognitive skill development and to build understanding of racial, gender, and socioeconomic disparities in non-cognitive skill development. He aims to improve the measurement of inequality and enhance efforts to reverse negative trends at an early age.
Kraft will use this award to develop his ability to mentor junior scholars, help junior scholars make strategic choices between multiple research opportunities, and gain a stronger sense of the career development issues facing junior colleagues of color.
