Angela Passero Jones, Ph.D.

My aim is to expand equity and quality in education through the cultivation of critically conscious educators and leaders. This includes encouraging students to grapple with uncomfortable topics of privilege and oppression through dialogically designed classrooms. I value student reflection and facilitate explorations of how social context, culture, and power matter in decision-making. I utilize critical theory, narrative, and arts-based approaches to inquiry in order to frame lessons that challenge the status quo and promote social transformation.

My research agenda is situated across early childhood education and special education policy and consists of two overlapping strands of inquiry. Strand I focuses on policy and leadership in the education of young children with special needs. Strand II focuses parent and family perspectives. These strands support my central line of inquiry into how policies are operationalized across educational contexts to support, challenge, or mediate social oppression. In pursuing this line of inquiry I utilize qualitative methods of narrative and arts-based research.