Research

My research focuses on educational leadership as it relates to the organization of schooling to support equity and access for traditionally marginalized groups and explores the ways that leaders can foster adaptable, responsive learning organizations. In a policy environment burdened by a multitude of reforms, educational leaders face heightened pressure to meet the evolving needs of an increasingly diverse student population. In response to this challenging context, I am currently pursuing two separate but related streams of research. First, I study the everyday practice of school principals and their role in supporting reform. Second, my work examines how changing demographics, specifically an influx of culturally and linguistically diverse students, impact this practice.

Central Features of My Work 

My study of educational leadership is defined by three central features.

• First, my work takes a distributed perspective on leadership, viewing formal and informal leadership as it occurs among people through interactions. For this reason, much of my research relates to interactions in school, for example through study of principal talk and the distribution of expertise through collaboration. 
• Second, I integrate the study of leadership and policy to understand how leaders interpret and influence policymaking and implementation, a crucial component of their work given the current policy pressures in education. 
• Third and most importantly, my work emphasizes equity and access for traditionally marginalized groups of students. Educational leaders have a central role to play in the pursuit of social justice, and my research seeks to identify ways in which leaders can develop the structures and capacity to create adaptive schools prepared to meet the changing and diverse needs of our students, schools, and society. 

Research Streams:   Leadership Practices   |   Immigration & Education