My scholarship examines the historical processes and current practices and policies that contribute to inequality today. I am a research affiliate with the Institute for Urban and Minority Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. My first book, The Roots of Educational Inequality: Philadelphia and Germantown High School, 1907 - 2014, was released with Penn Press in 2023.

My work has been published in Educational Researcher, Harvard Educational Review, Teachers College Record, Dissent, the Hechinger Report, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Reuters, and the Washington Post.

I have received funding for my research from Harvard University, the National Academy of Education, the National Science Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the Spencer Foundation. 

I completed a Ph.D. in History, a Ph.D. in Education, Culture, and Society, and a Master's in Public Administration at the University of Pennsylvania. I earned my Bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, in History and Italian from Wellesley College.  Before graduate school, I worked as a public and independent school administrator and teacher.