Zane Wubbena, PhD

Curriculum Vitae

email: zwubbena at gmail dot com | web: zanewubbena.com | GitHub: github.com/zwubbena

Education

PhD	Education–School Improvement (Quantitative Research Methodologies), 2017 Department of Counseling, Leadership, Adult Education, & School Psychology, Texas State University Dissertation: “Education in the News Media” Received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award
MA	Elementary Education (Early Childhood–8th grade), 2011 Department of Curriculum & Instruction, Texas State University Thesis: “Cognitive Level of Development and Mathematical Fluency of First Grade Children”
BS	Sport Management (Minor: Business Administration), 2006 Department of Kinesiology & Health Education, University of Texas at Austin

Experience

Government and industry

Managing Director of Forecasting, Division of State Funding, Forecasting & Fiscal Analysis, Texas Education Agency, 2025–present
Director of Data Strategy and Reporting and Part B Data Manager, Texas Education Agency, 2023–25
Data Manager, Texas Education Agency, 2022–23
Data Analyst / SAS Programmer, Texas Education Agency, 2018–22
Data Scientist (Freelance), 2017–18
Doctoral Research Assistant, College of Education, Texas State University, 2013–17
Graduate Research Assistant, College of Education, Texas State University, 2010

University teaching

Doctoral Instructional Assistant, Texas State University, 2013–14
CI 4378 (undergraduate): Service, Community & Democratic Leadership in Education
EDCL 5388 (master’s): Problems in Educational Administration: Service-Learning

K–12 teaching

Elementary Teacher (Sub), K–3, 2017–18, Cayman International School, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
Special Education Teacher, K–5 (Inclusion/resource), 2012–13, University Meadows Elementary, Charlotte, NC
Special Education Teacher, PK–5 (Autism program), 2010–12, Hill Elementary School, Austin, TX
Special Education Teacher, K–4 (Behavior program) and Homebound Coordinator, 2008–10, Crockett Elementary, San Marcos, TX
Special Education Teaching Assistant, 6–8 (Autism program), 2008, Clint Small Middle School, Austin, TX

Certifications and teaching credentials

SAS Programming 1: Essentials, SAS
SAS Programming 2: Data Manipulation Techniques, SAS
SAS SQL 1: Essentials, SAS
Introduction to Statistical Concepts, SAS
Statistical Thinking and Problem Solving, SAS
Python Basics, University of Michigan
Teacher Certification (TX & NC, Elementary Education, EC–6), 2009–20
Teacher Certification (TX & NC, Special Education, EC–12), 2008–20
Certified Texas Contract Manager, State of Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, 2019–22

Publications

Books

Wubbena, Z., Ford, D., & Porfilio, B. (Eds.). (2016). News media and the neoliberal privatization of education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing. Book reviewed in Policy Futures in Education and Education Review.

Peer-reviewed journal articles

Wubbena, Z. (2018). The boy who learned to read by “saving the earth.” Kappa Delta Pi Record, 54(1), 42. doi:10.1080/00228958.2018.1407183
Wubbena, Z. (2017). A pedagogy for space: Visually framing the 2011 Chilean student movement. Policy Futures in Education, 15(4), 460–480. doi:10.1177/1478210317694501
Guerra, P., & Wubbena, Z. (2017). Teacher beliefs, practices, and cognitive dissonance in high-stakes test-influenced environments. Issues in Teacher Education, 26(1), 35–51. Both authors contributed equally.
Xu, L., Wubbena, Z., & Stewart, T. (2016). Measurement invariance of second-order factor model of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) across K-12 principal gender. Journal of Educational Administration, 54(6), 727–748. doi:10.1108/JEA-01-2015-0001
Wubbena, Z. (2016). Becoming through revolutionary pedagogy: An interview with Curry Malott and Derek R. Ford. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies, 14(1), 1–14.
Wubbena, Z. (2015). Gatekeeping for “good” education, passive democracy, and the mass media. An interview with Noam Chomsky. Critical Education, 6(8), 1–9.
Stewart, T., & Wubbena, Z. (2015). Systematic review of service-learning in medical education: 1998 to 2012. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 27(2), 146–156. doi:10.1080/10401334.2015.1011647
Stewart, T., & Wubbena, Z. (2014). An overview for infusing service-learning in medical education. International Journal of Medical Education, 5, 147–156. doi:10.5116/ijme.53ae.c907
Wubbena, Z. (2013). Mathematical fluency as a function of conservation ability in young children. Learning and Individual Differences, 26, 153–155. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2013.01.013

Book chapters

Coryell, J. E., Stewart, T., Wubbena, Z., Valverde-Poenie, T. C., & Spencer, B. J. (2019). International service-learning: Study abroad and global citizenship development in a post-disaster locale [reprint]. In M. Khosrow-Pour & Information Resources Management Association (Eds.), Civic engagement and politics: Concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications (Vol. 3, pp. 1258–1283). Hershey, PA: IGI Global. doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-7669-3.ch063
Wubbena, Z., & Stewart, T. (2017). Critical service learning in college and university pre-professional programs. In C. Dolgon, T. K. Eatman, & T. D. Mitchell (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of service learning and community engagement (pp. 309–320). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Wubbena, Z. (2017). Becoming through revolutionary pedagogy: An interview with Curry Malott and Derek R. Ford [reprint]. In D. R. Ford, Education and the production of space: Political pedagogy, geography, and urban revolution (pp. 123–134). New York, NY: Routledge.
Coryell, J. E., Stewart, T., Wubbena, Z., Valverde, C., & Spencer, B. J. (2016). International service-learning, study abroad, and global citizenship development in a post-disaster locale. In D. Velliaris & D. Coleman-George (Eds.), Handbook of research on study abroad programs and outbound mobility (pp. 421–446). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
Wubbena, Z. (2016). Introduction: A fight for education and against capital: Neoliberalism, news media, and educational policy. In Z. C. Wubbena, D. Ford, & B. Porfilio (Eds.), News media and the neoliberal privatization of education (pp. xi–xxxii). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Edited journal issues

Greenwalt, K., Kemling, J., & Wubbena, Z. (2017). How can neo-liberal ideologies be resisted? The Journal of School & Society, 4(2), 1–3.
Greenwalt, K., Kemling, J., & Wubbena, Z. (2016). Grit, hope and the new character education. The Journal of School & Society, 4(1), 1–4.

Book reviews

Wubbena, Z. (2019). Review of “News framing effects.” Political Communication.
Wubbena, Z. (2018). Review of Derek R. Ford’s “Communist study: Education for the commons.” Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education. doi:10.1080/01596306.2018.1434760
Wubbena, Z. (2016). Review of Sheila L. Macrine’s “Critical pedagogy in uncertain times: Hopes and possibilities.” Policy Futures in Education, 14(7), 1036–1038. doi:10.1177/1478210316663394
Wubbena, Z. (2015). A revolutionary critical pedagogy of becoming. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 48(11), 1193–1196. doi:10.1080/00131857.2015.1113740
Wubbena, Z. (2015). Review of Pauline Lipman’s “The new political economy of urban education: Neoliberalism, race, and the right to the city.” The SoJo Journal: Educational Foundations & Social Justice Education, 1(1), 147–151.
Wubbena, Z. (2015). Review of Peter McLaren’s “Pedagogy of insurrection: From resurrection to revolution.” The Hampton Institute: A Working-Class Think Tank.

Other publications

Wubbena, Z. (2016, January 5). US income inequality and GDP from 1979 to 2011. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.1399.8160
Wubbena, Z. (2014, October 26). Bibliography: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and charter school corruption and fraud: 01 July 2009–26 August 2015. doi:10.13140/RG.2.1.2971.9766
Nelson, S. W., Paris, B. J., Colegio, L., Evermann, D., Long, T., … Wubbena, Z. (2014). School turnaround in Texas public schools. CTEP Summer Institute Conference Report. San Marcos, TX: Texas State University. All authors contributed equally.

Conference presentations

Wubbena, Z. (2019, February). News framing effects of educational issues. Paper presented at the 7th annual Critical Media Literacy Conference, Savannah, GA.
Wubbena, Z. (2018, February). The propaganda model: A critical pedagogy for media analysis. Paper presented at the 6th annual Critical Media Literacy Conference, Savannah, GA.
Wubbena, Z. (2017, April/May). Communist study: Theorizing and enacting the pedagogy of critical pedagogy. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Antonio, TX.
Wubbena, Z., & Guerra, P. (2017, April/May). Teacher beliefs and classroom practices: Cognitive dissonance in high-stakes test-influenced environments. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Antonio, TX.
Wubbena, Z. (2017, February). Visually framing a pedagogy for space during the 2011 Chilean student movement. Paper presented at the 5th annual Critical Media Literacy Conference, Savannah, GA.
O’Malley, M., Barrera, D., & Wubbena, Z. (2016, November). Resisting globalization of neoliberal educational accountability: Student movements’ impact on educational policy in Latin America. University Council for Educational Administration annual conference, Detroit, MI.
Wubbena, Z. (2015, April). The media and the neoliberal privatization of education. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
Wubbena, Z. (2015, April). An interview with Noam Chomsky. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
Xu, L., & Wubbena, Z. (2015, April). Testing measurement invariance of second-order factor model of the multifactor leadership questionnaire. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
Wubbena, Z. (2015, February). The theoretical contradiction of charter schooling for social justice [The Fight for Equality: Educational Policy, Social Justice, and Systemic Injustice]. Paper presented at the 67th annual conference of the Southeast Philosophy of Education Society, Memphis, TN.
Xu, L., Stewart, T., & Wubbena, Z. (2014, May). Testing measurement invariance of second-order factor models of Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire across K-12 principal gender. Poster presented at the Modern Modeling Methods Conference, Storrs, CT.
Wubbena, Z. (2013, April). Poster presented at the Association for Childhood Education International Institute for Global Education Diplomacy (invited), Georgetown University, Washington, DC.
Wubbena, Z. (2011, October). Paper presented at the 7th Biennial Meeting of the Cognitive Development Society (invited), Philadelphia, PA.
Wubbena, Z. (2011, June). Applying Piagetian theory [Cultural Supports for Mathematical and Scientific Reasoning]. Paper presented at the 41st annual conference of the Jean Piaget Society (invited), Berkeley, CA.
Wubbena, Z. (2011, April). Paper presented at the American Mathematical Society Spring Eastern Sectional Meeting (invited), College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA.
Wubbena, Z. (2010, November). Conservation and mathematical abilities. Paper presented at the 2nd International Research Conference for Graduate Students, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX.

Invited talks

Wubbena, Z. (2018). “Probabilistic sampling techniques in health education.” College of Education, University of Texas at Austin.
Wubbena, Z. (2011, March 30). “So you want to do research? Key differences between quantitative and qualitative research.” Adult Education, College of Education, Texas State University.

Media

Mongeau, L. (2016, May 5). Ask a scientist: When are children ready to learn abstract math? Education Week.
Wubbena, Z. (2017, April 3). The importance of graduate student travel funds [Blog post]. The Graduate College at Texas State University.

Honors and awards

J. Warren Hitt Distinguished Service Award, Texas Education Agency, 2023
Outstanding Graduate Student Award, Texas State University, 2017
Certificate of Honor for Service to the Department of Counseling, Leadership, Adult Education, and School Psychology, 2015 and 2016
Gabriela Mistral Scholar, Project LEARN-Chile, 100K Strong. Research project funded by the 100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative, U.S. Department of State, 2015
Certificate of Appreciation from the faculty of the Department of Counseling, Leadership, Adult Education, and School Psychology, 2013 and 2014
Invited Special Graduate Student Issue: Learning and Individual Differences, 2011

Scholarships and fellowships

Research Travel Grant, 2017, Critical Media Literacy Conference, $750
Research Travel Grant, 2015, 100,000 Strong in the Americas Initiative
Doctoral Travel Grant, 2015, AERA Annual Conference, $500
Doctoral Travel Grant, 2015, SPES Annual Conference, $750
Graduate College Scholarship, 2014–15, $2,200
Doctoral Travel Grant, 2014, Noam Chomsky Interview at MIT, $300
Graduate College Scholarship, 2013, $1,250
Doctoral Fellowship, 2013, $1,000

Curriculum development

Stewart, T., & Wubbena, Z. (2014, July). American Psychological Association Style (6th edition) Modules, Texas State University. Ten modules: introduction to APA style; title page; abstracts; headings and paper formatting; citations, DOI, and references; tables and figures; quotes; bias and language; abbreviations and statistics; and general APA and Texas State dissertation format requirements.
PHIGURITOWT Reading and Phonics Program: 120 reading levels and 16 phonics levels used together to build reading ability from pre-primer to 2nd grade, 2009–present (open source).
IDEALS Math (Individual Differentiated Education and Learning System Mathematics Program): a beginning elementary school (grades 1–3) curriculum aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), 2012 (open source).

Professional service

Editorial roles

Editor, Cogent Education, 2016–present
Associate Editor, Dewey Studies, 2016–present
Associate Editor, The Journal of School & Society, 2015–present
Website Director, John Dewey Society, 2014–present

Book proposal reviewer

Bloomsbury, 2019
Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

Manuscript peer reviewer

Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy, 2019
International Journal of Leadership in Education, 2017
Policy Futures in Education, 2016
Cogent Education, 2016
Issues in Teacher Education, 2015
The SoJo Journal: Educational Foundations & Social Justice Education, 2015
Handbook of Research on Study Abroad Programs and Outbound Mobility, 2015
Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 2015
Academic Medicine, 2015
Critical Education, 2014
School Leadership & Management, 2014
Journal of Higher Education Outreach & Engagement, 2014
Texas Mathematics Teacher, 2013

Professional affiliations

American Statistical Association (ASA), 2018–present
John Dewey Society (JDS), 2014–present
Southeast Philosophy of Education Society (SPES), 2015–present
American Educational Research Association (AERA), 2013–present
Jean Piaget Society (JPS), 2011–present
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), 2008–present

Last updated: 2026-10-14

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