Employing qualitative methods, her work focuses on urban school reform, data-informed leadership for equity, and the ways in which class, race, and gender shape the academic development of low-income youth. She earned her Ph.D. in Urban Education Policy with an emphasis on K-12 leadership and administration from the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education. Prior to earning her doctorate, she worked as an elementary and middle school teacher in California. Her scholarship can be found in the AERA Handbook of Education Policy Research and Educational Policy.