Spencer Fellow for Youth Participatory Action Research
Meet the Fellow
Karena A. Escalante, PhD is the Spencer Fellow for Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) at EdTrust. She fosters a positive approach to democratizing research, overseeing the organizational capacity building needed to share and value the wisdom of youth that has been delegitimized in political spaces. Karena is a proud daughter of immigrants from El Salvador and Mexico, a first-generation college graduate, and a former teacher for middle and high school multilingual students. Impassioned by her former students, Karena joined EdTrust in 2024 after completing her PhD in Education Policy and Leadership at Drexel University to advocate for rigorous research critically examining social issues to develop multigenerational, transformative solutions. She also holds a MS in Education from Johns Hopkins University and a BA in Psychology from Grinnell College.
Recent Work
