Our Story

Hello!

My name is Dr. Elizabeth Ayisi.

I created Kente Academy, an online tutoring and coaching academy, to help students build mathematical skills that help them securely transition to high-level mathematics. Kente Academy offers personalized mathematics instruction, academic coaching, and college planning for high school and college students, as well as for parents.

Over two decade of teaching I have seen many of the same needs in students, and have developed unique ways of addressing them. Students who are better supported during their transition to high-level mathematics tend to be more successful academically overall. They have better GPAs, more likely to get scholarships, to get into their dream college, and may even consider becoming STEM majors and well-paid professionals in the future.

I wiII continue to publish and deliver keynotes and features talks around the world. My research addresses complex analysis, differential geometry, functional analysis, statistics, teaching, learning, culture and identity with an emphasis on teacher preparation in statistics and mathematics education.

I enjoy applying mathematics to the real world to tell a clear story about data through powerful analytic dashboards. My research interest lies in creating innovative machine learning models from data insights to validation.

Publications

  • Ayisi, E., & Carman, C. (2022). How many meals can minimum wage buy? In J. Corwin IV & NCTM (Eds.), Middle school mathematics lessons to explore, understand, and respond to social injustice. (In press. Publication date expected in August 2022.)

  • Ayisi, E., & Hartman, S. (2026). High School to College Transition: Undergraduate Black STEM majors Counterstories. (In preparation.)

  • Ayisi, E., & Hartman, S. (2026). High-achieving Black STEM majors mathematics identity construction. (In preparation.)

  • Ayisi, E. O., Matovu, E., Nina, A & Gordon, B. (2026). Monte Carlo researchers’ techniques to evaluate the Welch as the default.(In preparation.)

Presentation Videos

  • QSIDE Institute: Sociocultural Teaching and Learning: Implementing Equitable Transition from High School to College

educational experiences

Ohio University Athens, OH

Ph.D. with specialization in Mathematics Education & Research Methods and Evaluation

M.Ed. in Educational Research and Evaluation

Certificate in Interacting with Media for Non-Journalists

Ohio State University Columbus, OH

Data Analytics Certificate

John Carroll University Cleveland Heights, OH

MSc. Mathematics

The College of Wooster Wooster, OH

B.A. in Mathematics

  • • Ayisi, E. O., & Yiadom, S. A. (2024, October). Empowering Transitions: Fostering inclusive mathematical communities for Black STEM students. Paper presentation presented at the meeting of the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Columbus, OH.

    • Ayisi, E. O. (2023, October). High achieving Black students' mathematics identities in the high school to college transition in STEM. Paper presentation presented at the 2023 meeting of the Mid-Western Educational Research Association, Cincinnati, OH. 

    • Shaw, O., Ayisi, E. O., Aryal, H. P., & Budhathoki, D. (2022, October). Quantitative reasoning with technology. Lecture demonstration presented at the meeting of the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Cincinnati, OH.

    • Ayisi, E. O. (2022, April). Sociocultural teaching and learning: Implementing equitable transition from high school to college. Keynote speaker at the Data4Justice Conference at the Institute for the Quantitative Study of Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity.

    • Anderson, A., Ayisi, E. O., & Young, D. (2022, February). Stem alumni panel. Talk at the STEM success initiative student event at the College of Wooster, Wooster, OH.

    • Ayisi, E. O. (2021, October). Learning to use the basic R statistical package. Workshop presented at the 2021 meeting of the Mid-Western Educational Research Association, Cincinnati, OH.

    • Ayisi, E. O., & Felton-Koestler, M. D. (2021, July). College students’ perceptions of the transition from high school to college mathematics. Paper presentation presented at the 14th International Congress on Mathematics Education (ICME-14), Shanghai, China.

    • Ayisi, E. O., Matovu, E., Nina, A., & Gordon, B. (2021, April). Monte Carlo researchers’ techniques to evaluate the Welch as the default. Poster session presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

    • Ayisi, E. O. (2020, February). Black undergraduate student attitudes concerning the school-to-college transition in mathematics. Poster presentation presented at the meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Atlanta, GA.

    • Ayisi, E. O. (2020, February). Crafting cover letters and resumes. Workshop presented at the preconference meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Atlanta, GA.

    • Ayisi, E. O. (2019, October). Using GeoGebra to engage students and promote learning. Lecture demonstration presented at the meeting of the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Sandusky, OH.

    • Ayisi, E. O., Matovu, E., Nina, A., & Gordon, B. (2019, October). A preliminary study on Monte Carlo researchers’ techniques to evaluate the Welch as the default. Paper session presented at the meeting of the Mid-Western Educational Research Association, Cincinnati, OH.

    • Matovu, E., Nina, A., Ayisi, E. O., & Gordon, B. (2019, October). Learning to use the R statistical package without code. Workshop presented at the 2019 meeting of the Mid-Western Educational Research Association, Cincinnati, OH.

    • Ayisi, E. O. (2019, May). College students’ perceptions of their transition from high school to an inquiry-based college mathematics. Paper presentation presented at the meeting of the 15th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana-Champaign, IL.

    • Yi, Z., Ayisi, E. O., Ahmad, A., Senteney, M., Abdullah, A & Zhou, Y. (2019, May). The added values of the adoption of mixed methods research in psychometrics. Paper presentation presented at the meeting of the 15th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Urbana-Champaign, IL.

    • Ayisi, E. O. (2019, February). Developing an instrument addressing undergraduate students’ attitudes concerning the school-to-college transition in mathematics. Poster presentation presented at the meeting of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Louisville, KY.

    • Ayisi, E. O. (2018, October). Undergraduate students’ attitudes concerning the transition from high school to undergraduate mathematics. Paper session presented at the 2018 meeting of the Mid-Western Educational Research Association, Cincinnati, OH.

    • Ayisi, E. O., & Tatiana, S. (2018, October). Bringing complex numbers to life in an Algebra II Classroom using GeoGebra. Workshop presented at Centerville High School, Centerville, OH.

    • Ayisi, E. O., & Foley, G. D. (2018, October). Using GeoGebra to bring geometry to life. Lecture demonstration presented at the 2018 meeting of the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Akron, OH.

    • Ayisi, E. O., Aryal, H. P., & Shaw, O. (2018, May). Visualization of complex valued functions and mappings using GeoGebra. Poster session presented at the meeting of the Inquiry-Based and Teaching in Mathematics, Austin, TX.

    • Foley, G. D., Alhammouri, A. M., Ayisi, E. O & Aryal, H. P. (2018, February). Algebra I in context: supported by technology. 5-hr workshop for the Student Readiness Collaborative of the Muskingum Valley Educational Service Center, Zanesville, OH.

    • Ayisi, E. O. (2017, November). GeoGebra and geometry. Workshop presented at the Ohio University Mathematics Education Seminar, Athens, OH.

    • Ayisi, E. O. (2017, March). GeoGebra and representations of mathematical objects in the complex plane. Workshop presented at the Ohio University Mathematics Education Seminar, Athens, OH.

    • Agyeman-Ayisi, E. O, & Foley, G. D. (2016, October). MODSPAR session 3: Modeling with mathematics. Lecture demonstration presented at the meeting of the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Sandusky, OH.

    • Foley, G. D., Alhammouri, A. M., & Agyeman-Ayisi, E. O. (2016, October). Modeling and quantitative reasoning for college readiness. 4-hr workshop for the Student Readiness Collaborative of the Ohio Valley Educational Service Center, Washington State Community College, Marietta, OH.

    • Agyeman-Ayisi, E. O. (2016, September). The pedagogy of social injustice: understanding the conceptualization of “labels” in using models. Workshop presented at the Annual Appalachian Ohio Mathematics and Science Teaching Research Symposium, Ohio University, Athens.