His research examines the sociology of educators’ expectations in fostering conditions to support equity and school reform at different stages in the pre-kindergarten to university (PK-20) educational pipeline. Dr. Liou's research is organized by the following themes to examine the sociology of expectations: 1) students’ experiences with teachers' academic expectations, 2) teachers’ perceptions of their expectancy practices in the classroom, 3) expectancy studies of school-based leadership and families, and 4) expectancy studies of higher education and the P-20 educational pipeline.