I am an Associate Professor of Public Policy and Education and an Associate Professor of Sociology (secondary) at Vanderbilt University. Trained as a sociologist and an ethnographer, I seek to understand how schools and families transmit cultural skills, behaviors, and habits to children. My research has been published in Sociology of Education, American Educational Research Journal, and American Behavioral Scientist, and been featured in the New York Times, Education Week, Washington Post, Next City, The Atlantic, HuffPost, EduShyster, and The Guardian.

My book Scripting the Moves takes the reader inside a high-achieving, high-discipline charter school. It received the 2022 Bourdieu Award for Best Book in the Sociology of Education from the American Sociological Association, the 2022 Independent Publisher Book Award in Education, and the 2022 Outstanding Book Award from the Society of Professors of Education.

I received a Ph.D. in Sociology from Princeton University, a master’s degree in social sciences from the University of Chicago, and a bachelor’s degree in English from Amherst College. My research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the American Sociological Association, the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation, and Vanderbilt University’s Discovery Grants.