Walter Herring is a doctoral student in Education Policy Studies at the University of Virginia. He anticipates earning his PhD in the Spring of 2022 and is currently on the job market.

Prior to entering graduate school, Walter taught Algebra I in his hometown of Dallas, Texas, and later worked as a data analyst and program manager at an education non-profit in San Jose, California. In each of these positions, he witnessed the central and complex role that data-driven decision making plays in education. He entered graduate school to develop a skill set that would allow him to help education stakeholders wield the increasing amount of information available to them to drive equitable decisions for students.

In this vein, Walter’s graduate research explores how stakeholders can leverage data from kindergarten entry assessments, statewide longitudinal data systems, and other sources to highlight inequities and inform decision making in the early elementary grades. His current projects demonstrate how these emerging data can be used to document disparities in children’s early reading outcomes and inform intervention resource allocation decisions at the state and district levels.