What does educational equity for multilingual learners look like in our public schools? How do leaders understand and interpret policies related to multilingual learners (MLs)? And what does equity-informed leadership actually look like in practice?

I first started thinking about these questions when I was working as an ELL teacher in Massachusetts. Now, five years later, I’m a PhD candidate at UC San Diego, where I use qualitative methods to research leaders’ sensemaking and policy implementation for multilingual learner equity in K-12 public schools.

At UCSD, I’ve been involved in various research projects related to ML leadership, policy, and equity. As a graduate researcher working with Dr. Megan Hopkins, I developed policy briefs related to core areas of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to share with state education agency leaders. I also served on a research team led by Drs. Amanda Datnow, Shana Cohen, and Alison Wishard Guerra examining leadership practices for multilingual learner equity in a partner school district. To learn more about my research experience, see my CV.

My dissertation study explores how district and school leaders implement Dual Language Education (DLE) and Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) programs in Massachusetts after the LOOK Act, with a focus on how these decisions enable—or constrain—equitable access for multilingual learners. My study’s findings will bring a critical lens to DLE implementation and shed light on leaders’ decision-making processes. This will also support Massachusetts with identifying barriers that may be impeding the process of implementing DLE in the post-LOOK Act era. My research is generously funded by the Yankelovich Center for Social Science Research. I am also a recipient of the 2026-2027 AERA Minority Dissertation Travel Award.