Joanna conducts community-engaged research on equitable family engagement and parent leadership and organizing. Her research informs how to change systems, structures, and belief systems so that historically marginalized families can have power over their children's education. She has been the Principal Investigator of several mixed-methods and participatory research and evaluation projects, including the Parent Leadership Indicators Project; a multi-year evaluation of the National Parent Leadership Institute; and the evaluation of a federal grant to enrich family engagement opportunities in Central Falls, RI. Joanna has authored and co-authored many resources on parent leadership, including an Indicator Framework, an Evaluation Concept Paper, a district self-assessment rubric, and multiple peer-reviewed journal articles. Joanna holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in Community Research and Action from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education.