The Berkeley Review of Education (BRE), an open-access, peer-reviewed journal, is published biannually online, edited by students from the Berkeley School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. The BRE encourages senior and emerging scholars, practitioners, and policy-makers to submit articles that address issues of educational diversity and equity from various intra/interdisciplinary perspectives. BRE is an open-access journal hosted by the eScholarship initiative of the California Digital Library and published yearly, with special issues on occasion.
All of our board members are current doctoral students at the University of California’s Berkeley School of Education.
Jonathan Pérez, Head Editor of Editorial Support, Training, Budget and Operations, is a doctoral student in the Critical Studies of Race, Class, and Gender cluster. His research interests entail applying cultural-historical activity theory to analyze learning activities in the classroom that contribute to the racialization of students in the classroom. Currently, Jonathan designs courses for The School of the New York Times. Before coming to UC Berkeley, Jonathan completed two Fulbright grants in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Richmond in sociology and Iberian literature. Jonathan also has a M.A.T. from the University of Louisville and a M.Ed from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Ilke Bayazitli, Internal Review Coordinator, is a doctoral student in the School Psychology program. She received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Boğaziçi University and her master’s degree in Psychological Science from San Francisco State University. She has been involved in research on the psychosocial factors that are associated with the well-being of adolescents, including discrimination based on different identities, educational experiences, time perspective, and substance use. Her current research interests are centered around promoting the well-being of youth with a focus on the educational outcomes among underrepresented and gifted students. She is also interested in protective and preventive approaches in psychological practice from the perspective of positive psychology.
Aukeem Ballard, Junior Editor, is a doctoral student in the critical studies of race, class, and gender in education. Aukeem’s research falls at the intersection of policy and practice and centers on equity in school. Specifically, Aukeem investigates the experiences of educators of color as they build and sustain relationships with students as a mediating force on student development. He also investigates how educators move equity into practice in their school settings. A former teacher and school leader, his passion for the practice of education is what drives his current research. He also consults with education-based organizations on issues of equity in schools.
Kelly Billings, Managing Editor, is a doctoral student in the Learning Sciences and Human Development cluster. Her research interests include STEM education, teacher learning and ideology development, practitioner inquiry and culturally sustaining pedagogy. She currently works with Bay Area teachers to support them in implementing an anti-racist science curriculum. Before coming to UC Berkeley, Kelly was a high school science teacher in Oakland, CA, and still coaches teachers in her old school district. She has a single subject teaching credential from Loyola Marymount University and a B.S. from the University of Southern California.
Hoyun Kim, Junior Editor, is a doctoral student in the Policy, Politics, and Leadership cluster. Her research interests lie in the experiences of students in higher education and examining postsecondary institutions as organizations: topics pertaining to student agency, equity, accessibility of higher education, and the behavior and incentives of postsecondary institutions. Before coming to UC Berkeley for graduate studies, Hoyun earned her B.A. in Economics at UC Berkeley with a Minor in Chinese, where she worked as an undergraduate research assistant under the UC ClioMetric History Project’s Zachary Bleemer on higher education.
Elaine (Hua) Luo, Managing Editor and Head Copyeditor, is a doctoral student in the School Psychology program. Elaine’s research interests include ethnic-racial identity, ethnic-racial socialization, and teacher-student relationships. Before coming to Berkeley, she earned an M.Ed. in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard School of Education, and a B.A. degree in Education Sciences from the University of California, Irvine with two specializations in Research and Evaluation and Early Childhood Learning and Development.
Mingfeng Xue, Junior Editor, is a Ph.D. candidate at Berkeley School of Education. His research focuses on applied psychometrics and statistics in education, especially item response theory models and the application of large language models in educational measurement. His work has been published in the International Journal of Educational Research, Behavior Research Methods, etc.
Carolyn Ann Schweitzer, Head Copyeditor, is a doctoral student in the Joint Doctoral Program in Special Education at Berkeley School of Education and San Francisco State University. Her research interests include reading and composition interventions for students with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and students with mood disorders, the Neurodiversity Movement, and DisCrit Theory. Carolyn’s research currently focuses on the experiences of students with ASD learning literary and media analysis in secondary and post-secondary English and composition classrooms. Before coming to Berkeley, Carolyn taught composition at the post-secondary level and worked one-on-one with neurodiverse students in executive functioning. She earned her M.A. in Literature and Film from Northern Illinois University and her B.A. in Film Critical Studies from the University of Southern California.
Siqi Huang, Managing Editor, is a 4th-year doctoral candidate in the Graduate Group in Science and Mathematics Education (SESAME) under the mentorship of Alan Schoenfeld. She holds a B.S. in mathematics from UCLA and is concurrently pursuing a master’s degree in mathematics with Fields Medalist Richard Borcherds to deepen her expertise. Her dissertation focuses on designing, implementing, and studying a disciplinary-rigorous, identity-empowering learning community to support historically underrepresented students in calculus at UC Berkeley.
Ashley Zhou, Communications, is a doctoral student in the Joint Doctoral Program in Special Education at Berkeley School of Education and San Francisco State University. Ashley’s research focuses on the intersection of race, gender, class, and ability in special education labor, focusing on the role of the paraprofessional. Prior to entering the doctoral program, Ashley worked in general and special education in the public charter school system in Washington, D.C. She received her B.A. in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality from Harvard College.
Josie Ingram Defaye (she/her), Junior Editor, is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Language, Literacy, and Culture cluster. Her research interests include informal learning spaces, transgender issues in education, and educator’s use of AI tools for equitable instruction. She holds a B.A. in philosophy at Columbia University and an M.A. in Teacher Education from UC Berkeley. Before starting her Ph.D., she taught high school English and creative writing in Los Angeles.
Jessica Benally, Managing Editor, is a doctoral student in the Learning Sciences and Human Development cluster. Her research interests include designing mathematics educational materials and tools that are interwoven with Indigenous epistemology. Her current research investigates students’ perceptual experience of angles as they instruct and enact angles from a constellation. Before coming to Berkeley, she earned a B.S. in Applied Mathematics with a minor in Native American Studies from the University of New Mexico.
Hetvi Desai (she/her), Junior Editor, is a doctoral student in the School Psychology program at UC Berkeley. She holds a B.S. in Psychological Sciences from Purdue University and an M.A. in Applied Clinical Psychology from Penn State Behrend. Her research focuses on adjustment and acculturation in school systems, specifically examining how cultural identities impact immigrant children’s experiences. Her research also explores the impact of intersecting marginalized identities on children’s educational outcomes, as well as how cultural identity can act as a risk or protective factor for behavioral and learning challenges.
Alexandra Collard, Junior Editor, is a Ph.D. student in the Graduate Group in Science and Mathematics Education (SESAME). She holds Bachelor’s degrees in Chemistry and Math and a Secondary Science Teaching License with Math endorsement from the University of Colorado Boulder and a Master’s degree in Chemistry from Institut Polytechnique de Paris. As a former high school Chemistry teacher, her research focuses on how students learn Chemistry and how we can continue to work towards sustainable and equitable Chemistry education.
Carlos Rivera Bernabé, Junior Editor, is a Ph.D. student in the School Psychology program. Prior to Berkeley, he received his bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Southern California with a Minor in Education and Society. His primary research interests center on developing and examining how culturally competent and responsive practices can improve the mental health, identity development, and academic outcomes of ethnoracially and linguistically diverse students. Additionally, Carlos is interested in exploring ways to best support and uplift STEM identity and literacy skill development, particularly among underrepresented, immigrant, and at-risk youth. Altogether, he aspires to help school psychologists deliver impactful, equitable mental health services that empower marginalized students to thrive academically and socially.
Golzar Ejadi, Junior Editor, is a Ph.D. student in the School Psychology program. Golzar’s current research interests center around positive development, mind-body practices, intervention implementation, and parent, practitioner and administrator well-being. Before attending UC Berkeley, she received her Bachelor of Science in Biology and Psychology from the University of British Columbia and her Master of Science in Clinical Psychology from San Francisco State University.