Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Research Program
| Grant Category: | Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching Research Program |
| Project Title: | Challenges to Intrinsic Motivation in the Classroom and How to Involve Community in Student-Driven Learning |
| Field of Study: | Education |
| Home Institution: | Multicultural High School, Brooklyn, NY |
| Host Institution: | TBD, TBD, TBD |
| Grant Start Month: | September 2026 |
| Duration of Grant: | Six months |
Brief Bio:
Ms. Sophia Kang has been teaching English literature for the past eight years across the seventh to 12th grades. She is an advocate for culturally relevant teaching that connects students’ lived experiences to the classroom. She has collaborated with TED-Ed Student Talks to help students develop their inquiry skills, resulting in personalized projects, such as connecting local carcinogen levels to health or concussions to the longevity of football players. Committed to educational equity across marginalized communities, Ms. Kang has led professional development for 150 teachers around data collection, culturally relevant teaching, and interdisciplinary writing. She has also established a shared language for writing across subjects and has played a significant role in increasing the Multicultural High School’s English-language arts performance level from the red to the green tier. In her research, she seeks to examine how schools with limited funding can implement innovative and systemic practices to increase student engagement, such as by fostering community connections and increasing ownership across all stakeholders. The ultimate goal of Ms. Kang’s research is to empower students, teachers, and communities to each become leaders of positive change, thereby building up schools as positive learning spaces. She received her BA in English from the University of California, Berkeley, in 2015 and her MA in education from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2018.
Beyond the classroom, Ms. Kang has engaged with her local community and communities abroad – she has provided mentorship to unhoused youth on skid row and has created culturally relevant English lessons for the Ticuna tribe. She enjoys creative expressions such as poetry, ceramics, and film in her free time, which allows her to make unique connections to education.
Ms. Kang’s Fulbright research project is examining how under-resourced schools can implement innovative and systemic practices to close socio-economic achievement gaps and foster community connections. She aims to use her findings to boost student engagement by nurturing intrinsic motivation and meaningful learning experiences in her own school community.