Amanda Frye Leinhos

Amanda Frye Leinhos is a doctoral candidate in the Graduate School of Education specializing in Sociology of Education and Race, Inequality and Language in Education.  Her research focuses on the work race does in elite, highly selective and high-performing learning environments.  Amanda has received Master’s Degrees in Urban Education/Sociology of Education and Human Development and Psychology from Harvard Graduate School of Education, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Russian and Soviet Studies from Harvard University.

Dissertation: “Diversity as a Resource” in an Elite Public School: A 21st Century Paradox

Amanda’s dissertation asks how, when, and why race matters in the production of academic excellence, exploring the structural, interactional, and material factors that support and limit students’ access to academic success. Centered on a high-performing middle school in an aspirationally meritocratic and affluent Silicon Valley community, this work inverts traditional paradigms of achievement and opportunity gap research by focusing on the experiences of African American students in an affluent, high achieving community.