Doctoral Student Christy Batts Selected to Join 15th Cohort of the Alliance for Catholic Education’s Reform Leaders’ Summit

Christy Batts ’24PHD, a doctoral student in the NC State College of Education’s Ph.D. in Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development educational evaluation and policy analysis concentration, has been invited to join the 15th cohort of the Alliance for Catholic Education’s Reform Leaders’ Summit. 

The Reform Leaders’ Summit aims to equip leaders with skills and abilities needed to support family rights and equity in education. Batts will be part of a cohort of about 50 educators who will engage in three immersion weekends, facilitated by policymakers, school leaders, researchers, education entrepreneurs and funders. 

“I believe my participation and experience as a member of the 15th cohort of the Reform Leaders’ Summit will contribute to my career goals by connecting me with future collaborators, data sources and avenues to conduct and publish my research,” Batts said.

Batts, whose research focuses on school choice as it relates to homeschooling, believes that being selected to join the next cohort of the Reform Leaders’ Summit signals there is a broader interest within the field to further include homeschool voices in school choice conversations. 

“Homeschooling has not always been considered alongside other school choice modalities and is often also left out of public school policies, so my selection as a researcher interested in homeschooling specifically signals to me that this option is becoming recognized in the mainstream thinking of education policy reformers,” she said.

Batts is one of several College of Education student to be selected to join the Reform Leaders’ Summit in recent years. Zainab Qaabidh ’24PHD and Mario Jackson ’24PHD, who are both also earning a Ph.D. in the Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development educational evaluation and policy analysis concentration, participated in the 14th cohort in 2022. Doctoral students Kendall Hageman-Mays and Leanna Martin were selected to participate in the 15th cohort.

As a participant this year, Batts said she is most looking forward to learning from other scholars who are interested in discussing inclusive and inventive educational policy ideas. 

“I also believe I can bring a relevant and rare perspective as both a policy researcher and a homeschooling mom myself,” she said. 

This post was originally published in College of Education News.