Bio

Laila Y. Sanguras, Ph.D., is a lecturer in the department of Curriculum & Instruction and graduate program director of the EdD in Learning and Organizational Change. Dr. Sanguras earned a B.S. in education from Western Oregon University, followed by a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Portland State University and Ph.D. in educational research from the University of North Texas.

Dr. Sanguras’ areas of teaching include educational evaluation and mixed methods research. She won the Award for Outstanding Teaching from Baylor University for the 2020-2021 school year and is a faculty advisor to students in cohort 9.

Dr. Sanguras continues to build her understanding of issues related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. She recently participated in 2U's eight-week Diversity Workshop and Baylor University's eight-week Seeing White discussion. She also co-facilitated a DEIB discussion and resource-sharing opportunity for EdD-LOC faculty.

Dr. Sanguras’ primary scholarly interest is the development of psychosocial skills, particularly grit and coping, and how teachers and parents can support their children to succeed academically and personally. Additionally, she is passionate about equity, particularly focused on how the current methods of identifying students for gifted programs can be revised to ensure equitable representation. She works closely with school districts and parent organizations to bring research to practice. Dr. Sanguras also presents at numerous professional conferences and enjoys mentoring students on their personal research projects.

In 2023, Dr. Sanguras was awarded a fellowship with the National Association of Educational Progress (NAEP). She is excited to work more with this dataset to further the field's understanding of student achievement.