Highlighting Student Achievement: Taylor Wycoff

By Sofia Del Fine
December 2, 2025

We are proud to recognize Taylor Wycoff, a doctoral candidate in the UC Irvine School of Education, for receiving the Student and Early Career Council Dissertation Research Funding Award from the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD). This $2,000 award supports her outstanding dissertation research on strengthening cultural responsiveness in after-school and out-of-school-time (OST) programs. Taylor’s work addresses a critical need in the field: although millions of youth participate in after-school programs each year, many still encounter environments that do not fully affirm their cultural identities or lived experiences.

Taylor’s dissertation focuses on identifying and measuring culturally responsive practices—those that honor students’ backgrounds, foster strong relationships, and connect learning to real-world contexts. She is developing a conceptual framework for these practices, creating and validating new survey tools for students and mentors, and examining how culturally responsive approaches shape youths’ STEM beliefs and educational expectations over time. By providing educators and program leaders with practical, evidence-based tools, her work aims to make after-school learning more equitable, empowering, and aligned with the needs of historically marginalized youth.

Taylor Wycoff

This research builds on NSF-funded work conducted with the Math Community Educational Outreach (Math CEO) program at UC Irvine, a partnership serving middle school students in Santa Ana. Taylor leads the project as Principal Investigator, with guidance from her dissertation committee: Dr. Sandra D. Simpkins, chair and faculty mentor; Dr. Alessandra Pantano, director of Math CEO; and Dr. Rossella Santagata. Taylor’s achievements exemplify the School of Education’s commitment to impactful, community-engaged scholarship, and we congratulate her on this well-deserved recognition.