Tona Williams
Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison

My primary focus is on filmmaking and design, and my background as a sociologist enriches this work.

My formal schooling is in sociology, communication, and the arts. As a sociologist, my academic research has focused on the organizational context of educational reform, the cultural politics of the school curriculum, and the relationships among school subject areas. My areas of research expertise also include developing visual and web-based methods of data collection, organization, and presentation, and combining qualitative and quantitative data for research and policy analysis.

In 2006 I completed my doctoral dissertation, "Visions of What We Know: School Subjects Depicted through Shifting Internet Discourses." From 2003-2007 I provided research support for the Discourse Change Study of the Diversity in Mathematics Education project at the National Center for Improving Student Learning and Achievement in Mathematics and Science.

From 1998 to 2003 I was the project manager for the Organizational Support Study Group and a project assistant for Cross-Site Analyses of District and School Contexts at the National Center for Improving Student Learning and Achievement in Mathematics and Science. With Adam Gamoran and others, I co-authored Transforming Teaching in Mathematics and Science: How Schools and Districts Can Support Change (2003). (Read about the study in this WCER policy brief, in .pdf format, and WCER article: Putting Case Study Results into Context)

I have also provided technical assistance as a consultant to the Urban Institute, for the Urban Systemic Initiative Effective Schools Study, and to the Center for the Mathematics Education of Latinos (CEMELA), a Center for Learning and Teaching supported by the National Science Foundation.