Claudia M. Castillo-Lavergne, PhD, is a Research Practice Partnerships Postdoctoral Associate at the Joseph C. Cornwall Center for Metropolitan Studies at Rutgers University–Newark. She earned her doctorate in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University, where her research examined how historically marginalized young people make sense of their futures and how schools and out-of-school spaces support or constrain those processes.
Her scholarship bridges human development, education, and critical sociocultural perspectives to investigate how race, class, gender, and immigration status shape identity, belonging, and opportunity. Much of her work is rooted in community-engaged research partnerships with schools, universities, and nonprofit organizations. She has studied issues such as high school transitions, immigrant youth well-being, STEM pathways, and segregation policy in New Jersey.
Claudia was Lead Co-PI of a Rutgers Equity Alliance for Community Health (REACH) grant supporting a $100,000 participatory initiative in Camden, NJ, to co-design a liberatory curriculum on the social determinants of health with immigrant youth and families (link). She also co-authored The Latinx Experience in NJ Schools report, which combined policy history and community narratives to inform statewide debates on equity. Her work has been featured in media outlets such as NJ PBS News, Chalkbeat, and the Daily Targum.
Her dissertation, Constructing Possible Futures, followed Latine young women over six years to understand how different learning contexts shaped the ways they imagined and pursued their futures. More broadly, her research investigates how young people are racialized, politicized, and historicized in educational settings, and how those processes inform their sense of possibility for themselves and their communities.
Claudia’s publications include peer-reviewed articles in Urban Education, Journal of Social Issues, Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Basic and Applied Social Psychology, Parenting, and Health Promotion International. She has also authored public-facing reports and briefs through the Cornwall Center.
Claudia holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University, an M.P.A. in International Economic Policy and Management from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, and a B.A. in Journalism and Spanish from Rutgers University.
Publications
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Experiencing and Envisioning STEM Futures: How Conditions of Learning in STEM Educational Settings Supported the Links Four Latinx Young Women Made to the Future , Claudia M. Castillo-Lavergne, 2024
International Society of the Learning Sciences -
The Latinx Experience in NJ Schools: A Preliminary Overview | Report Brief , Castillo-Lavergne, C. M., Campbell, V. A., Dontamsetti, S., & Payne, C. M., 2024
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Constructing Possible Futures: How Latinx muxeres navigate learning environments and envision their futures over time (Doctoral dissertation) , Castillo-Lavergne, C. M., 2023
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The Latinx Experience in NJ Schools: A Preliminary Overview , Campbell, V. A., Dontamsetti, S., Foley, K., Castillo-Lavergne, C. M., Payne, C. M., & Brunskill, L. , 2024
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Affirming and nurturing students’ cultural wealth to enhance self-efficacy , Rocha, J., Castillo-Lavergne, C.M., Byrd, M.J., & Yancy, C.W. , 2022
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Reimagining Educational Equity through Strategic Alliance Partnerships. Health Promotion International , Rocha, J., Castillo-Lavergne, C.M., Byrd, M.J., Carnethon, M.R., Miller, R., Lin, M., Marsh, E.E., Jackson, J.K., & Yancy, C.W. , 2021
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Fuera De Lugar: Undocumented Students, Dislocation, and the Search for Belonging , Torres-Olave, B. M., Torrez, M. A., Ferguson, K., Bedford, A., Castillo-Lavergne, C.M., Robles, K., & Chang, A., 2020
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How the Intersections of Ethnic and Socioeconomic Identities are Associated with Well‐Being during College , Castillo‐Lavergne, C. M., & Destin, M. , 2019
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A Field Experiment Demonstrates Near Peer Mentorship as an Effective Support for Student Persistence , Destin, M., Castillo, C., & Meissner, L. , 2018
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Parent Spanking and Verbal Punishment, and Young Child Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors in Latino Immigrant Families , Barajas-González, R. G., Calzada, E., Huang, K. Y., Covas, M., Castillo, C. M., & Brotman, L. M., 2018
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