Julia Ransom
Associate Research Director
Pronouns: She/Her
Degrees
- Ph.D. in Urban Education, Temple University
- MS.Ed. in Intercultural Communication in Education, University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education
- B.S. in Speech Communication, Millersville University
About Julia Ransom
Dr. Julia C. Ransom is a qualitative researcher with over a decade of policy and evaluation research experience both supporting and leading research projects. She specializes in designing and conducting qualitative and mixed methods evaluation and research studies that are critical, culturally responsive, and community-engaged to center issues of equity and social justice in education. She brings expertise in K-12 education, out-of-school time, and public health research.
As the Associate Research Director for the Impact team, Dr. Ransom serves as both a member of RFA’s organizational leadership team and a researcher. In her role on the leadership team, Dr. Ransom supports departmental management for the Impact team, contributes to the development and implementation of department and organizational strategic goals, serves as a liaison between the research team and leadership, represents and advances the perspectives of the research staff, and works to ensure an equitable environment for all staff members.
Since joining RFA, Dr. Ransom has served as project or co-project director for a variety of studies including, a U.S. Department of Education, Education and Innovation Research (EIR) grant focused on teacher professional development, RFA’s portfolio of 21st Century Community Learning Center evaluations, and the evaluation of an NSF-AISL longitudinal research study on the impact of informal science learning/STEM programs for Black women and girls.
She also supports RFA’s five-year IES grant studying the implementation and impact of California’s Assembly Bill (AB) 705, a statewide developmental community college education reform initiative, and participatory action research (PAR) projects with Black teacher-researchers. Her research interests include equity in STEM for Black and Latino youth, quality informal learning/out-of-school time experiences for underserved communities, and racial equity in education.
Prior to coming to RFA, Dr. Ransom worked in learning impact measurement for an international education technology corporation, and education and youth development focused research and evaluation in New York City. She also has experience teaching research design and qualitative methods for graduate students and education leaders. She holds a Ph.D. in urban education from Temple University’s College of Education and Human Development.
