About

Dr. Elyse Hambacher’s research focuses on two overlapping areas within the field of teaching and teacher education. First, her research examines the development of educators’ critical social justice literacy and how teaching for social justice is operationalized in education settings. Second, she explores the social contexts in which teaching and learning occur, especially (but not exclusively) as it pertains to how teachers create communities of success and resilience for youth who do not demonstrate traditional definitions of success. She received the 2019 Diverse: Issues in Higher Education’s Emerging Scholar Award, a national recognition to scholars in the academy striving to make society more just.

Funded by a grant from the Spencer Foundation, Dr. Hambacher is currently working on a project that examines how justice-oriented white educators in a predominantly white school district engage with concepts of race, anti-racism, and whiteness. She has also helped higher education faculty improve their pedagogy as a facilitator for the Association of College and University Educators. Prior to working in higher education, she was a classroom teacher in Miami, FL, and taught English in Kumamoto, Japan.

Research Interests

Classroom Management, Culturally Responsive Teaching, Primary / Elementary, Professional Development, Qualitative Research, Social Justice in Education, Teacher Evaluation, Teacher Quality

Education

• University of Florida, BA in Elementary Education
• Teachers College, Columbia University, MA in Curriculum and Teaching
• University of Florida, PhD in Curriculum, Teaching, and Teacher Education

Activities and Honors

• Emerging Scholar, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education
• Race and Equity Education Workgroup, New Hampshire Endowment for Health
• Exemplary Online Fast Track Award for Innovative Teaching Approach, University of Florida
• Grant Reviewer, Spencer Foundation

Selected Grants

Selected Publications

Books / Book Chapters

• Reagan, E. M., Couse, L. J., Coppens, A. D., Hambacher, E., Lord, D., McCurdy, K., & Pimentel, D. (2018). Toward a conceptual framework for designing and implementing the Teacher Residency for Rural Education. In R. M. Reardon & J. Leonard (Eds.), Innovation and implementation in rural places: School-university-collaboration in education (pp. 81-106). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Articles

• Silva, B., Hambacher, E., & Wharton-McDonald, R. (2021). Justice through practice: Developing preservice teachers’ equity literacy using children’s literature in an afterschool book club. Journal of Practitioner Research, 6(2), Article 4.
• Reagan, E. & Hambacher, E. (2021). Teaching preparation for social justice: A synthesis of the literature from 1999-2019. Teaching & Teacher Education. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103520.
• Hambacher, E. & Ginn, K. (2021). Race-visible teacher education: A review of the literature from 2002-2018. Journal of Teacher Education, 73(3), 329-341.
• Hambacher, E., Silva, B., & Morelli, G. (2020). ‘There was complete silence’: Reflections on teacher preparation for social justice education in a predominantly White community. Multicultural Perspectives, 22(4), 201-209.
• Reagan, E., Hambacher, E., Schram, T., McCurdy, K., Lord, D., Higginbotham, T., & Fornauf, B. (2019). Placing teachers: Review of the literature on rural teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 80, 83-93.
• Hambacher, E. (2017). Resisting punitive discipline: Perspectives and practices of exemplary urban elementary teachers. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 31(2), 102-118.