Travis D. Hill
Ph.D. Candidate in Educational Psychology: Giftedness, Talent Development, and CreativityK12 Education Professional
About
I am pursuing my Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with a concentration in gifted education and creativity at the University of North Texas. My research interests include postsecondary transition supports for academically-advanced students, gamification as a pedagogical tool, and creative processes in Pro-c adults.As a nontraditional Ph.D. student, I am an educational professional with more than 15 years of experience in K12 education, district administration, and the nonprofit education space. I have helped to facilitate the creation and support of processes and policies that impact district advanced academics courses and postsecondary readiness strategies along with outcomes in state accountability.In the 16 years I spent away from college, I have been a high school teacher, advanced academics advisor, postsecondary guidance counselor, state accountability district administrator, and a director at a nonprofit education organization set to improve the outcomes of students in Dallas County.My passion is to better the supports for students transitioning into higher education, be it through direct work with students, their teachers and advisors, or those who perform the research to impact more robust transitional supports.
EXPERIENCE
I am a K-12 education professional with more than 15 years of experience in management, evaluation, and accountability, nonprofit and school district administration, and quantitative and qualitative research. Skilled at thoughtful leadership and team development, facilitating collaborative relationships, translating policy into practice, and intentional research design, I have experience with managing small teams, conducting research-driven data analyses, creating and leading presentations and workshops, fostering cross-team communication, and leveraging data and relationships with clients to identify initiatives to collaboratively address.Specializations
Advanced Academics Coursework: Advanced Academics in Secondary (AP, Dual Enrollment, Dual Credit), Equity-centered Program Evaluation, District-Higher Ed Course Alignment, Program Management,
Postsecondary Advising Supports: Equitable Access, Multi-tiered Systems of Supports, Secondary to Postsecondary Transition, Course Content Workforce Alignment
School District Evaluation: Statewide Accountability, Advanced Academic Educator Effectiveness and Credentialing, Policy Analysis, Evaluation, and Implementation
• 2023-2025: Director, College & Career Readiness, The Commit Partnership
• 2021-2023: College, Career, & Military Readiness Facilitator, Mesquite ISD
• 2019-2021: Advanced Academics Coordinator, Mesquite ISD
• 2004-2010, 2016-2019: High School Teacher, Mesquite ISD
Research
As a primarily qualitative researcher, I am interested in the details and experiences that make up people's perceptions of their lives around them. Be it Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, Case Studies, or more, I find the murkiness of qualitative research an interesting maze to navigate.Specializations
Developmental Psychology: Gifted and Talented Education, Giftedness in Adults, Advanced Academics, Program Evaluation
Creativity: Gamification, Tabletop Game Design, Creative Decision-making
Methodology: Research Design, Qualitative Methodology, Systematic Reviews, Mixed-MethodsAs a researcher, I am interested in exploring the following topics:
| How do academically advanced students navigate life after high school? | As a former postsecondary access advisor, I understand the difficult processes that students must navigate through to transition into college life. Much research has been dedicated to earlier grades or honors college students, but what about the murky waters in between? |
| How can analog tabletop game design be utilized to explore creative pursuits? | As a researcher and board game designer, I am interested in the intersection of the two, looking beyond what sparks creativity and how it is fostered, and wanting to dig into the product, process, and ultimately manifestation of what creativity is. |
| How are creativity and giftedness expressed in secondary student and adult populations? | As a former educator and former gifted-identified person myself, I want to explore how these formative years of our lives exhibit themselves in older teenage, emerging adult, and adult populations. With the boon of nationwide gifted education throughout the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, there are thousands of adults with different psychosocial educational experiences than others. |
Publications
Hill, T. D., Shen, Y., Hodges, J., & Ji, W. (2025). Assessing the COVID-19 pandemic's influence on college-readiness indicators among gifted secondary students in Texas from 2019-2021. Journal for the Education of the Gifted. https://doi.org/10.1177/01623532251323596Hill, T. D., Shen, Y., Hodges, J. & Ji, W. (2024). Dual credit completion in Texas from 2019-2021: An examination of the COVID-19 years. Journal of Advanced Academics. https://doi.org/10.1177/1932202X241304515Mun, R. U., Shen, Y. A., Hill, T. D., Moore, D. T., Ji, V. W., & Lin, W. (in press). Identifying and serving English Learners in gifted programs. In M. Nunez-Zippelius, S. Z. Zhang, & P. Merrotzy (Eds.), Extraordinary achievement in historically excluded groups. Springer.Hill, T. D. (2024, May). Tabletop role-playing game design in the secondary classroom, Teaching for High Potential. National Association for Gifted Children.Meyer, M. S., Moore, D. T., Phelps, C., Shen, Y., Sodergren, C. D. C., Hill, T. D., Hebda, M. A., & Baker, E. (2024). What the research says about math talent development, Tempo+. Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented.
Select Presentations
Hill, T. D. (2025, April 23-27). Extra-curricular supports: Teachers’ pedagogical practices for academically advanced students in elective high school classrooms [Presentation]. American Educational Research Association. Denver, CO, United States.Meyer, M. S., & Hill, T. D. (2024, December 5-7). S.B. 2124: Expanding access to advanced math through universal screening and auto-enrollment [Presentation]. Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented. San Antonio, TX, United States.Hill, T. D. (2024, November 21-24). Rolling dice & building stories: Fostering creativity in tabletop role-playing game design [Presentation]. National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) 70th Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, United States.Mun, R. U., Shen, A., Hill, T. D., Moore, D., Ji, V. W., Lin, W. (2024, November 21-24). Promising practices and alternative methods to identify and serve gifted English Learners [Presentation]. National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) 70th Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, United States.Philipose, L., May, A. G., & Hill, T. D. (2024, November 21-24). Reframing failure: Why and how failure benefits students [Presentation]. National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) 70th Annual Conference, Seattle, WA, United States.Shen, Y., Hill, T. D., Ji, V. W., & Moore, D. T. (2024, April 11-14). A 2018-2021 comparative study of the pandemic’s impact on advanced placement and dual credit participation and successful completion in Texas [Roundtable presentation]. Research Evaluation & Assessment in Schools (Division H) In-progress Roundtable, American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2024 Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, United States.Hill, T. D., Shen, Y., Ji, V. W., & Moore, D. T. (2024, April 11-14). Comparative analysis of pandemic’s impact on advanced placement and dual credit participation and completion rates in Texas, 2018-2021 [Roundtable presentation]. AERA Research-in-Progress Roundtables, Research on Giftedness, Creativity, and Talent (RoGCT) SIG, American Educational Research Association (AERA) 2024 Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, United States.Philipose, L., May, A. G., & Hill, T. D. (2023, November 30). Finding AP equilibrium: How load monitoring decreases burnout [Conference session]. Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented (TAGT) giftED23 Conference, Dallas, TX, United States.Hill, T. D., Philipose, L., May, A. G., Moore, D. T., & Shen, Y. A. (2023, November 30). Unleashing brilliance: Classroom interventions for bridging the excellence gap [Conference session]. Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented (TAGT) giftED23 Conference, Dallas, TX, United States.Philipose, L., May, A. G., & Hill, T. D. (2023, November 12). Avoiding all AP all the time: How load monitoring can defuse academic burnout [Conference session]. National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) 70th Annual Conference, Lake Buena Vista, FL, United States.Hill, T. D., May, A. G., Moore, D. T., & Skidmore, J. (2023, November 10). Removing Chance: Building career-focused bridges between parents& schools [Poster presentation]. National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) 70th Annual Conference, Lake Buena Vista, FL, United States.Philipose, L., May, A. G., Hill, T. D., Moore, D. T., & Shen, Y. A. (2023, November 10). From good to excellent: Classroom intervention strategies to narrow the excellence gap [Conference session]. National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) 70th Annual Conference, Lake Buena Vista, FL, United States.
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