Nicholas S. Bell

Assistant Professor

Educational Psychology

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Titles:

Assistant Professor in Special Education

Academic Degrees:

Ph.D. in Education (Specializations: Sociocultural and Community-Based Approaches; and Education Statistics and Research Methods), University of Delaware

MEd in Literacy, West Chester University

BS in Special Education, West Chester University

Areas of Expertise:

Special Education, QuantCrit, Structural Equation Modeling, Teacher Preparation, Culturally Relevant Teaching (Math/Science)

Biography:

Dr. Nicholas S Bell conducts research; teaches STEM, special education, and statistics courses; and mentors PhD students. With his research, Dr. Bell has the overall aim of disrupting injustices in education (e.g., educational redlining in special education) and studying the impact of justice-oriented solutions, actions, and interventions. Dr. Bell’s research focuses on a) anti-racist special education practices, policies and teacher preparation; b) high quality, ambitious, and justice-based teaching (e.g., culturally relevant and responsive teaching) in math and science for students identified with/out disabilities; and c) the application of Quantitative Justice in educational research. He uses a variety of research methods—including qualitative approaches, community-responsive research, mixed methods, and advanced statistical models (e.g., CritSEM)—and research designs (e.g., quasi-experimental and experimental). Resulting from recently funded grants by the Spencer Foundation (Racial Equity Grant and Conference Grants), Nicholas is collaborating with othersto envision a Quantitative Justice Policy Initiative and Lab at the University of Connecticut. 

Selected Publications/Presentations:

Bell, N. S., Ford, D. Y., Carey, R. L., Collier, Z., Eisenman, L., Scott, L., & Vélez, V. N. (2026). Critical Investigation of Resegregation Patterns in Special Education: Toward an Anti-Racist Special Education Model. Exceptional Children, 92(2), 182-204. https://doi.org/10.1177/00144029251358720

Bell, N. S., Desimone, L. M., Carey, R. L., & Polanco, C. (2026). Anti-Racist and Ambitious Teaching in Math Classrooms: A QuantCrit Analysis of Students’ Perspectives. Urban Education. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420859261417350

Bell, N.S., & Connor, D. (forthcoming). Civil rights violations in special education: Eliminating educational zones of resegregation. Urban Education.

Bell, N.S., Vélez, V., Ford, D.Y., Collier, Z., Slusarz, E., & Martin, M. (forthcoming). Delaware study of resegregation [Educational Redlining] patterns for behavioral disabilities: The urgency for anti-racist special education practices and policies. Behavioral Disorders.

Desimone, L.M., Bell, N.S., Lentz, A., Lee, K., & *Marianno, L. (2025). A holistic examination of how professional learning and curriculum relate to ambitious and culturally relevant instruction and student engagement. American Educational Research Association Open. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584241310429

Bell, N. S., Collier, Z., Vélez, V. N., & Ford, D. Y. (2025). CritSEM: Advancing QuantCrit to Examine Racialized Resegregation in Special Education. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 18(2), 390–422. https://doi.org/10.1080/19345747.2024.2408538

Bell, N.S., Soslau, E., & Wilson, C. (2022). The Student Teaching Equity Project: Exploring teacher candidates’ knowledge, skills, and beliefs. Journal of Teacher Education, 73(1), 23–36. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871211039849