Daniel L. Reinholz, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at San Diego State University, and a Professor of Equity in the Division of Student Affairs and Campus Diversity. Dr. Reinholz was previously a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for STEM Learning at the University of Colorado Boulder, and received a PhD from the University of California Berkeley. Dr. Reinholz has degrees in mathematics (MS) and electrical engineering (BS) from Colorado State University.
Dr. Reinholz is an interdisciplinary scholar, who creates tools for transforming STEM education. This research is primarily situated within three interrelated areas, collectively focused on improving equity and mitigating systemic oppression.
Equity Analytics. Dr. Reinholz co-developed the EQUIP tool, which is a free web-based classroom observational tool for tracking patterns of student participation for different student groups. EQUIP is designed to empower teachers, professional developers, and researchers to understand and improve equity in classroom teaching. EQUIP provides data to help illuminate the subtle and sometimes invisible patterns that arise due to students’ identities (e.g., race, gender, disability). These patterns are rooted in societal inequities, privileging some students over others. When instructors are empowered with equity analytics, they can intentionally disrupt these patterns to create a more equitable classroom.
Teaching Practices. Dr. Reinholz doesn’t just draw attention to the problem, but is actively committed to developing solutions. As such, Dr. Reinholz has become a foremost expert in equitable teaching strategies for postsecondary STEM. Through observations of hundreds of classrooms and running extensive professional development with STEM faculty, Dr. Reinholz has developed a library of equitable teaching strategies that support measurable transformations to classroom practices. For example, the Peer-Assisted Reflection (PAR) method empowers students as active agents to assess the work of their peers and ultimately themselves.
Systemic Change. Ultimately, the goal of Dr. Reinholz’s work is to change the education system so that it can be more just and better serve the needs of all students. This work includes running sophisticated professional development that goes well beyond equity talk to produce lasting changes to practices and institutions. Dr. Reinholz also co-created the community Sines of Disability, to build collective power to advance the success of disabled mathematicians. In addition, Dr. Reinholz serves as a working group leader in the Accelerating Systemic Change Network to help educate the STEM education community on ways to more effectively use change theory to enhance the impact of their projects.
Together, these three areas of research work in conjunction, using analytics to draw attention to inequities, offering effective teaching practices to reduce the equities, and changing systems in a way that makes this progress sustainable.