About Me

I'm Meagan. I am an Assistant Professor in Educational Foundations & Leadership at Old Dominion University. My research takes a critical lens to examine school leadership, including the practice and preparation of justice-centered leaders. Originally from Western Massachusetts, and by way of Austin and Chicago, I now live in Norfolk, VA, with my toddler, dog, and husband.

My Background

I am an Assistant Professor of Educational Foundations & Leadership within Old Dominion University’s Darden College of Education & Professional Studies. I earned a Ph.D. in Policy Studies in Urban Education and a Master of Education in Measurement, Evaluation, Statistics, and Assessment from the University of Illinois-Chicago, a Master of Science in Applied Sociology from Texas State University and my Bachelor of Arts in History degree from Wellesley College. 

My research interests are broadly focused on social justice and activism in educational settings. I see social justice work conducted by different stakeholders, including school leaders, students, teachers, community members, and researchers, as interconnected within an educational ecosystem. Within this ecosystem, social, economic, and environmental justice cannot be achieved (if it is possible to “achieve” justice) without the efforts of all stakeholders, who play unique but necessary roles.

While I am interested in learning more about how each of these groups works in the educational ecosystem, my research thus far has centered around school leaders. Since 2017, I have investigated justice-centered approaches to school leadership within and outside of Chicago. I have published multiple articles and chapters describing my research, all listed on my CV. My dissertation project examined the interplay between justice-centered school leadership and school choice policy in seven marketized school districts across the U.S.

I have been particularly influenced by work by authors such as Pauline Lipman, David Harvey, Richard Wolff, Michael Apple, Nancy Fraser, and other critical scholars who study political economy. I hold deeply-formed beliefs about (and critiques of) the policy contexts (and underlying philosophies) that I am studying. To be clear, I do not believe that educational markets are a policy solution to the inequity and oppression we see in schools. I do not believe that policies rooted in capitalism, competition, individualism, or privatization are solutions to inequity and oppression. I believe—both philosophically and from my reading of empirical evidence—that neoliberal policies are only furthering oppression. Through my research I attempt to highlight the ways that educational actors can resist, contest, and dismantle unjust policy toward emancipatory ends.

My research philosophy draws from community organizing, participatory action research, and other research traditions that hold parents, teachers, students, and other stakeholders as the experts on their lived experiences rather than the researchers. I seek to learn from my interviewees, not to place my own teaching or leading experiences on them. My approach to qualitative data collection is one of friendliness, curiosity, and openness, and I am always honest about what I know and don’t know. Additionally, I see my own research as a key allyship role that I can play, as I bring others’ social justice work to light to illuminate the ways in which white school leaders can pursue justice for their students and communities and to highlight the agency and power of leaders of color who work toward emancipation.

Prior to coming to earning my doctorate, I conducted educational evaluations of PK-12 educational policies, interventions, and programs, primarily in Texas but also nationally. Although I’ve never been a classroom teacher or administrator, I have diverse experience working with children in educational settings. I have substitute taught in two school districts in Massachusetts, coached a high school debate team, served as a classroom reading coach and mentor in a Title I school, and tutored several elementary and middle school students.

When I’m not working on research, I enjoy exploring new cities and countries, cooking, reading, gardening, swimming, hiking, camping, watching movies, and spending time with family and friends.