Leana Cabral

Senior Research Associate

Pronouns: She/Her

Degrees

Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology & Education: Teachers College, Columbia University
B.A. in Comparative Women's Studies: Spelman College

Home / About RFA / Meet the team / Leana Cabral

About Leana Cabral

Leana Cabral is a Senior Research Associate at RFA. She serves on the Out-of-School Time (OST) Coordination: Infrastructure for Supporting Healthy OST Ecosystems project which explores how city level OST coordination can contribute to community, family, and youth resilience moving forward from the COVID-19 pandemic into the future. She is also leading the Educator Diversity study, examining the root causes of Black teacher attrition in Philadelphia and promising practices in teacher diversification efforts.

Cabral has extensive experience working in out-of-school settings as an educator and administrator as well as in school settings as a researcher. Additionally, Cabral leverages her mixed methods training as a PhD candidate at Teachers College in Sociology and Education in support of her projects at RFA. Her research interests include the racial politics of public education, K-12 educational inequality and educational program evaluation and she is broadly committed to educational and racial justice and equity for all students.

Key Projects by Leana Cabral

Evaluating Early Learnings and Success of Teach Plus Affinity Group Program

Data and Research Support to the Citywide Talent Coalition

Current Trends in Youth Organizing

Read More K-12

Out-of-School Time Coordination: Infrastructure for Supporting Healthy OST Ecosystems

Democratizing Education Data Collective

Read More K-12

Allegheny County Black Teacher Study

Read More K-12

Allegheny County Educator Diversity Project

Read More K-12

Out-of-School Time (OST) Coordination: Infrastructure for Supporting Healthy OST Ecosystems

Allegheny County Education Research (ACER) Project

Read More K-12

The Pennsylvania Clearinghouse for Education Research (PACER): Translating Research and Analysis for Education Policymakers

See all author projects

Recent Publications by Leana Cabral

Publication

Responding, Reimagining, Realizing: Out-of-School Coordination in a New Era

Tracey A. Hartmann, Wendy McClanahan, Mark Duffy, Leana Cabral, Carolyn Barnes, Ph.D, Brian Christens, Ph.D

The Wallace Foundation commissioned Research for Action and McClanahan Associates to study how out-of-school time intermediaries (OSTIs) responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and the role they could play in supporting communities moving forward. Citywide out-of-school…

Publication

Small but Mighty: Lessons from Black Teachers’ Experiences in Allegheny County

Siettah Parks, Kevin Burgess, Leana Cabral, Mary Eddins, Alita Robinson

RFA studied why Black teachers were leaving their jobs more than White teachers in Allegheny County from 2014 to 2020. RFA analyses have found that the number of Black teachers in the area was consistently…

Publication

“Worn & Weary” Black Teachers’ Storied Experiences and Recommendations around their Attrition and Retention in Philadelphia Schools

Leana Cabral, Lynnette Mawhinney, Jill Pierce, Carmina Hachenburg

The benefits of a diverse teaching staff are well-established in research literature. Yet in Philadelphia, and many of the nation’s largest school systems, the number and share of Black teachers has been declining for at…

Publication

The Need for More Teachers of Color

Leana Cabral, Mary Eddins, David Lapp, Saxon Nelson

This booklet, The Need for More Teachers of Color, was released as part of a Teach-In hosted by Research for Action on April 23, 2022, in FDR Park in Philadelphia. The booklet provides highlights of…

Publication

FAQ: Superintendents in Pennsylvania School Districts

Mary Eddins, Leana Cabral, David Lapp, Molly Pileggi, Saxon Nelson, Ammani Ahmad-Khan

Superintendent leadership plays an important role in charting the trajectory of school district operations and ultimately of student learning. Meanwhile, several school districts undergo a superintendent transition each year, yet relatively little is known about…

See all author publications

Recent Posts by Leana Cabral

post

Black Educators Resist Anti-CRT Backlash

A recent surge in “Anti-Critical Race Theory” (CRT) legislation has sparked national debate about the role of race in education. However, a new study by RFA’s Leana Cabral, Siettah Parks, and Bank Street’s Amy Stuart Wells published in Thresholds in Education reveals a deeper issue: the attempted silencing of effective teaching practices for students of color. … Continued

post

Reflections from our 2022 Black teacher study

The research evidence has never been stronger about the benefits of and need for teacher diversity. Yet school communities across the nation are struggling to maintain already disproportionately low rates of teachers of color, and particularly teachers who identify as Black. RFA began conducting research on teacher diversity in Pennsylvania in 2018, identifying leaks in … Continued

post

Examining the Root Causes of Black Teacher Attrition in Philly Schools

Teacher diversity yields benefits for all students. Yet, there is a stark disparity between the proportions of students of color and teachers of color across Pennsylvania schools, including in Philadelphia. While an overall teacher shortage has garnered recent attention, the decline in Black teachers is not new. In fact, a 2018 news story documented that … Continued

View Our Projects

We evaluate programs, study policies, and conduct research on timely, impactful education reforms, topics, and programs. Browse our current and historical projects to see what we’ve been up to.

View All Projects

View Our Publications

Our publications are accessible, informative, and answer the most pressing questions on a wide array of education topics.

View All Publications