As a middle school math teacher on Chicago鈥檚 South Side, , now associate professor of leadership, policy and organizations at Peabody College and principal investigator of The Possibilities Project, noticed something interesting.
Connecting with and encouraging favorable outcomes for students who were generally labeled 鈥渢roublemakers鈥� came naturally to him, but a lot of his colleagues, while earnest, well-meaning and generally well-prepared pedagogically, found it difficult to build productive relationships with these same kids.
Warren wanted to know why. The quest took him from full-time secondary school teacher to being a researcher at Vanderbilt, where he studies education policy, race, urban education and, at the center of his work, the social conditions that facilitate Black children鈥檚 well-being in school.
CLOSING THE GAP
鈥淭here was something in the quality of teachers鈥� classroom social interactions that was off-putting to students,鈥� Warren said, recalling observations of his colleagues鈥� interpersonal exchanges on campus with Black boys鈥攖oo many of whom were harshly judged and identified by adults as 鈥減roblem children.鈥�
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what initially inspired me to study empathy. I started to think: Could empathy or the lack of empathy help explain the real difficulty of teachers to build positive relationships with Black boys? And could thoughtful expressions of empathy help resolve problems of practice when it came to helping my colleagues become better teachers for Black boys? These and other questions of race and urban education launched my research career.鈥�
Warren admits that, at first, he was simply trying to scratch an intellectual itch he鈥檇 developed over his seven years of teaching in Chicago. In 2012, he stumbled into a Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois-Chicago with only a loose expectation of completing it.
鈥淚 had no vision for becoming an education researcher,鈥� Warren said. 鈥淭here were real questions that I needed to answer, for myself, as a classroom teacher on the South Side of Chicago that led me to graduate school.鈥�
By the time he was two years into his Ph.D. program, Warren was translating his coursework into daily practice as a teacher and instructional coach at two turnaround elementary schools鈥攕truggling public schools scheduled for district-led reform.
鈥淚 was responsible for leading the instructional strategy in math and science at these schools, and everything I was learning as a Ph.D. student became valuable to my analysis of instructional data, and the subsequent support provided to teachers that I supervised,鈥� Warren said.
In his final year of doctoral study, substitute teaching on the side deepened his research.
鈥淚t was an eye-opener. I was subbing in all parts of the city as a doctoral candidate, and I got to see that education on Chicago鈥檚 North Side鈥攚here there are predominantly white kids鈥攍ooks, feels and is resourced very differently than education on the South Side and West Side, in the same public school system.鈥�
Warren鈥檚 purpose-filled curiosity built his research career. His early work examined how teacher empathy in one-on-one interactions with Black boys shaped student-teacher relationships and generated evidence of culturally responsive pedagogy. His Social Foundations of Education training led him toward bigger questions鈥攊nvestigating how a school鈥檚 historical, political, cultural and social context can drive transformation in Black education.
From student-teacher interactions to student voice, from schools as social systems to how cities and policy shape what happens in classrooms, Warren鈥檚 scholarship keeps expanding. He has written or co-edited four books (and has a fifth in progress), published work in top peer-reviewed journals and held visiting faculty appointments at Stanford University, New York University and the University of Pennsylvania.
MAKING THE CASE FOR POSSIBILITY
When he was ready for what came next, he chose Vanderbilt, where he leads 鈥攁 research lab Warren describes as an 鈥渁rts-informed knowledge hub鈥� that produces, amplifies and circulates research that advances evidence-based Black education solutions.
Launched in 2023, TPP is grounded in a theoretical concept inspired by historian Robin D.G. Kelley鈥檚 Freedom Dreams, centering Black kids鈥� possibility as a counter to all-too-familiar deficit narratives. As an artist and songwriter himself, Warren weaves creative expression into the lab鈥檚 DNA as a mode of developing, designing and disseminating ideas.
鈥淐oming to Vanderbilt gave me an opportunity, post-tenure, to think about what I wanted the next phase of my career to accomplish,鈥� Warren said. 鈥淚鈥檝e come to understand that who I am and what I鈥檝e researched gives me a sort of interpretive edge that is really valuable. I鈥檓 taking what I鈥檝e learned as a scholar and trying to translate that into stories that can circulate outside of the more traditional structures of academia while also advancing the knowledge base in education policy and practice.鈥�
The translation is working. Warren鈥檚 book, , has been adopted by the New York City Department of Education and used by educators around the country, including in Nashville, to reorient how they see and interact with Black students. A TPP study documented one school network鈥檚 transition from a punitive discipline policy to one rooted in restorative justice. In 2024, TPP brought together practitioners from across Nashville and beyond at the 鈥淐onvening of Black Education,鈥� where three strangers鈥擳iffeni Fontno, who serves as director at Peabody Library, Ashford Hughes Sr. and Eno Richardson, BS鈥�11, MEd鈥�15鈥攎et and went on to launch the .
This spring, the American Educational Research Association recognized Warren with the 2026 Scholars of Color in Education Mid-Career Contribution Award. The honor is given to one education researcher annually whose work has made significant contributions to advancing the field鈥檚 understanding of issues that disproportionately affect minoritized populations.
For Warren, the award landed personally.
鈥淚t is humbling to me as a someone who didn鈥檛 think he would finish graduate school to receive this national recognition for my work from the leading association for education research in the world.鈥� Warren said. 鈥淭his award is an affirmation that my research has not only advanced the field, but that it extends the important legacy of scholarship by Black scholars whose intellectual contributions have made my academic career possible.鈥�
He鈥檚 not done building.
鈥淚 would love to see the lab continue to be a space not only for producing evidence-based solutions that advance Black educational outcomes, but also a national hub for organizations and other researchers to access knowledge and establish partnerships that lead to more robust collaborations in service to communities who need support,鈥� Warren said. 鈥淚 think universities should be the best resource to local communities. I am eager to continue doing my part.鈥�
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