As part of a project with some of her doctoral students pursuing their education degrees, McHatton works with community center teens and pre-teens in the Tampa, Fla., area — some of whom are Hispanic — to encourage them to stay in, or return to, school.

“They talk about teacher behavior. They admit they may have made bad decisions, but with a lot of things, they say, ‘(teachers) thought I was bad; I might as well be bad.’ It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy,” she says. “You hear how they were kind of pushed out.”

McHatton’s latest research project in cooperation with the nonprofit literacy organization I CAN! Community Education Coalition, Inc. gives these on-the-edge students a voice, with the goal of enlightening teachers how their behavior can make the difference in whether a student decides to stay or leave school. “What she’s done with these young people is groundbreaking,” says Michelle Tate- Martin, I CAN!’s executive director and founder. “It’s innovative. To hear kids say why they dropped out and what needs to be done to prevent that is invaluable.” McHatton, who formerly worked in a middle school with students classified as having “behavioral problems,” admits she misses the direct interaction she had with teens. But she believes her current role as an assistant professor allows her to reach more students. “If I’m in my own K-12 classroom, I can hopefully make a difference with 15, 25, 30 kids a year.

If I’m teaching teachers, it’s 30 kids times my 30 students over how many years I teach. So, idealistically, I’m able to make a bigger difference,” she says.