Daniel Shephard, PhD
Daniel Shephard is an adjunct assistant professor in the International and Global Education Department at the School for International Training, a research affiliate at the University of Glasgow, a research consultant at the University of Pittsburgh, and the lead of NORRAG’s Missing Data Project. His current research focuses on the inclusion of displaced learners in public school systems and makes contributions to comparative and international education, forced migration, analytical sociology, and development studies. His research has involved primary data collection with children, youth, teachers, and educational staff in 30 countries, most recently in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. Daniel’s methodological approach prioritizes longitudinal mixed-methods research with advanced knowledge of social network analysis, (quasi-)experimental methods, multi-level modeling, school observations, and interviews. His research has been published in multiple peer-reviewed journals, including Compare, the International Journal of Educational Development, Educational Researcher, Children and Youth Services Review, and the Journal on Education in Emergencies, among others. He holds a PhD and a MPhil in Comparative and International Education from Teachers College, Columbia University and a MSc in Evidence Based Social Intervention from the University of Oxford.
Courses Taught for SIT
Theoretical Foundations II (EDD.GE)
Theory, Practice, and Policy of International Education (GVT.IELR)
Select Publications
Shephard, D. D., Osseiran, A., Makki, F. (accepted, in press) Can behavioral interventions using a visual values affirmation be effective for crisis-affected education contexts? Behavioral Science & Policy, X(X).
Shephard, D. D., Falk, D., Mendenhall, M. (2023). “My teachers make me feel alive”: The contribution of student-teacher relationships to student well-being in South Sudan and Uganda. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education. 1-19.
Falk, D., Shephard, D. D., Mendenhall, M. (2022). “I always take their problems as mine” – Understanding the relationship between teacher-student relationships and teacher well-being in crisis contexts. International Journal of Educational Development, 95, 102670.
Buckner, E., Shephard, D. D., & Smiley, A. (2022). Beyond numbers: The use and usefulness of data for education in emergencies. Journal on Education in Emergencies, 8(1). 214-42.
Mendenhall, M., Falk, D., & Shephard, D. (2022). Education for Life: Well-being and resilience in South Sudan and Uganda. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University.
Mendenhall, M., Falk, D., & Shephard, D. (2022). Education for Life: Methodological reflections brief. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University.
Mendenhall, M., Falk, D., & Shephard, D. (2022). Education for Life: Impact of COVID-19 research brief. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University.
Shephard, D., Egborge, T., Salmon-Letelier, M. (2021). Youth’s experiences of the Mafita vocational training and apprenticeship programs in North West Nigeria: A qualitative report. London: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Available
Select Presentations
Finkel, S. & Shephard, D.D. (2023, March). Democratic citizenship through adult civic education? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Co-presenter. Additional co-authors of paper: Lim, J., Melendez-Torres, G.J., Neundorf, A., Ozturk, A.. International Studies Association. Montreal, Canada.
Shephard, D. D. (2023, February). How will this research help me? Positionality, objectivity, and reciprocity among sixth-graders in Jordan. Presenter. Comparative and International Education Society. Washington, DC, United States.
Shephard, D. D. (2022, August). Social networks and schooling outcomes among refugees and host students: Effects of segregated school structures on networks and attitudes. American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, United States.
Cha, J., Cho, M., & Shephard, D. D. (2022, April). “I belong to my home country but I’m not going back just yet”: Refugee children and youth’s construction of identities and belonging. Co-presenter with Cha, J. & Cho, M. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, United States.
Shephard, D. D. (2022, April). Integration within the social networks of displaced and host community sixth graders in Jordan (Poster 12). American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, United States.
Shephard, D. D. (2022, April). Conceptualizing and addressing SDG 4 data gaps: Global and regional perspectives. Panel Chair. Comparative and International Education Society, Minneapolis, MN, United States.
Shephard, D. D. (2021, November). Missing education data. Speaker and Conference Organizer. Inaugural Missing Education Data Summit: Conceptualizing and Addressing Education Data Gaps for SDG 4, NORRAG, Geneva, Switzerland (Virtual).
Falk, D., Mendenhall, M., & Shephard, D. D. (2021, September). In their words: The well-being of accelerated education learners and their teachers in Uganda and South Sudan. The Education and Development Forum, Oxford, United Kingdom (Virtual).
Shephard, D. D., Falk, D., & Mendenhall, M. (2021, July). The contribution of teacher-learner relationships to learner well-being in South Sudan and Uganda. Presenter and paper co-author with Falk, D. & Mendenhall, M. World Education Research Association, Compostela, Spain (Virtual).
Mendenhall, M., Shephard, D. D., Falk, D. (2021, April). In their own words: The well-being of accelerated education teachers and learners in displacement. Co-presenter with Shephard, Daniel Mendenhall, M. & Falk, D. Comparative and International Education Society, Seattle, WA, United States (Virtual).
Current Research Interests
Comparative and International Education
Education in Emergencies
Sociology of Education
Sociology of Migration
Social Network Analysis
Evidence Informed Social Policy
Evaluation Methodologies
Teacher and Learner Well-being and Resilience
Children and Youth Studies
Systematic Reviews and Syntheses (e.g., meta-analysis and meta-synthesis), Education for Homeless and Unstably Housed Children
Child Rights Education
Financial Education.
Education
- PhD, Comparative and International Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
- MPhil, Comparative and International Education, Teachers College, Columbia University
- MSc, Evidence Based Social Intervention, University of Oxford
