Alexis Spina with her advisor Dr. Sarah Roberts
Alexis Deidre Spina of UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School was a top three winner at the in-progress research gala of Division D – Measurement & Research Methodology at the American Educational Research Association’s recent annual meeting. Spina presented “The Influence of Teacher Gender on Female Students’ Math Self-Efficacy,” research in-progress about seeing how teacher gender can influence the math self-efficacy of female math students in 9th grade.
Spina is a first-year doctoral student in the Department of Education with an emphasis in math education and is working with Dr. Sarah Roberts. She received her B.A. in Physics Education from the University of Delaware in 2007 and her M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction in Secondary Science Education from the University of Delaware in 2009. She has taught math and science at a small boarding school in Ojai, CA for the past 8 years and decided to return to school to start her PhD. Currently, her research interests are professional development in math education and retention in math classes for females in high school.