Madeline Mavrogordato
Associate Professor | Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, UNITED STATES
Madeline uses quantitative & qualitative methods to investigate how education policies shape outcomes for underserved student populations
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Biography
Madeline Mavrogordato is an associate professor of K-12 educational administration. She utilizes quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate how education policies shape outcomes for underserved student populations, particularly immigrants and English learners. In addition, she studies how to develop and support effective school leaders who are prepared to serve students from diverse backgrounds in today’s climate of high stakes accountability and evaluation. Her work is informed by her experience serving as a bilingual teacher in Texas and California. Mavrogordato’s work has appeared in a range of publications including Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Educational Administration Quarterly, and Educational Policy. She currently serves as an associate editor for the American Educational Research Journal. Follow her @MaddyMavro.
Areas of Expertise (6)
K-12 Administration
Social Foundations of Education
Diverse Learners and Educational Equity
Administration and Leadership (K-12 schools)
Educational Policy
Teaching English as A Second Language
Education (2)
Vanderbilt University: Ph.D., Leadership and Policy Studies 2012
Furman University: B.A., Political Science & Spanish 2004
Links (1)
News (5)
Don't Be Too Quick to Retain English-Language Learners
Education Weekly online
2019-02-28
Good news is often hard to come by in education research. So it's not surprising that recent media coverage trumpeting positive impacts of retention for English-language learners caught the eye of many policymakers and educators. Stories in Education Week and The Hechinger Report highlighted that if retained in 3rd grade, English-learners learned English in half the time and took more advanced classes in middle and high school.
English-Learners and Reclassification: Principals Play Pivotal Role, Study Finds
Education Weekly online
2019-02-06
The study, led by researchers from Michigan State University and Old Dominion University, examined how principals empower or impede equity through their leadership during decision making about English-learner reclassification—the process schools use to determine when, and if, English-learners are deemed proficient in the language and no longer need specialized instruction.
Teach for America’s Newest Initiative
Valley Town Crier online
2017-08-31
“She came here every other summer to visit me and other kids from that class,” Jessica said. “She bought me books and school supplies.” Then, during Jessica’s junior year in high school, her mother reached out to Maddy, now a professor at Michigan State University in the Department of Educational Administration, for help with the college application process. “She flew me to Michigan, and I fell in love with Michigan State,” Jessica said.
Facing pressure to cut special education, Texas schools shut out English Language Learners
Houston Chronicle online
2016-12-10
"Think of a student as a flower," said Madeline Mavrogordato, an education professor at Michigan State University. "If you only give them language services and not disability services, you're giving them only sun and not water. It's not enough." Mavrogordato and other experts also said English learners are just as likely as native speakers to have disabilities.
Limited-English students' success tough to gauge
Courier Journal online
2016-05-21
"There's a real debate (across the country) whether or not Common Core is a good or bad thing for English language learners," said Madeline Mavrogordato, an assistant professor of K-12 educational administration at Michigan State University. "There's a front that says this is a good thing because it's raising standards. ... There's another camp that says English language learners are going to be inherently disadvantaged because of the additional language demands built into Common Core."
Journal Articles (5)
Charter School Leadership and Exclusionary Discipline: Navigating the Intersection of Autonomy, Equity, and Accountability
Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership2018 Against the backdrop of the debate around exclusionary discipline practices, this case study asks readers to consider how leaders must balance autonomy with concerns about accountability and equity. In this case, a traditional public school principal in search of more autonomy accepts a principalship at a charter school, but as she attempts to change the school’s approach to student discipline, she discovers she may not have as much autonomy as she anticipated.
Taking Charge of Choice: The Case and Implications of Mayoral Charter Control
School Choice at the Crossroads2018 This chapter explores how charter school politics are nested within a larger framework of interest group politics and idiosyncratic social and political contexts. The focus centers on examining the political and educational values of public and non-public organizations, state officials, and local actors. The rapid growth of Indiana's charter schools and the debate that preceded passage of the law are commonplace features in the political landscape of school choice in the US.
Principals and teacher evaluation
Journal of Educational Administration2018 The purpose of this paper is to examine how school leaders use high-stakes teacher evaluation to improve and, if necessary, remove low-performing teachers in their schools. It explores how cognitive, relational and organizational factors play a role in shaping the way school leaders implement teacher evaluation.
Eligiendo Escuelas: English Learners and Access to School Choice
Educational Policy2017 School choice has emerged as the linchpin of President Trump’s urban education reform plan, but it remains unclear how school choice policies will shape the educational experiences of the most underserved student groups, particularly English learners (ELs). Using quantitative data from one large urban school district, we examine EL participation in a system of school choice. Specifically, we investigate the extent to which never, current, and former ELs enroll in a nonzoned school.
Reclassification variation: How policy implementation guides the process of exiting students from English learner status
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis2017 As state and federal policymakers continue to adopt more centralized policies, it is increasingly important to understand how policies, particularly those designed to enhance education for underserved students, are implemented locally. We employ a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design to investigate the implementation of one policy, that which guides the process of reclassifying English learners (ELs) as English proficient in Texas.
