Lesley Lavery

Professor Lavery’s interests include American politics, political behavior, civic engagement and public policy. Her scholarship focuses specifically on the ways in which policy may influence political engagement and participation.  Her expertise in K-12 education policy is deeply informed by her early career experience as a second-grade Teach for America teacher in San Jose, California and volunteer work with St. Paul Public Schools.

Lavery’s research portfolio includes over two dozen peer-reviewed articles in prestigious journals, including the ILR Review, the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. Her 2020 book, A Collective Pursuit: Teachers’ Unions and Education Reform (Temple University Press), has been praised for its innovative perspective on how teachers’ unions can serve as catalysts for democratic engagement and improved educational outcomes. This work challenges conventional narratives about teachers’ unions and offers a fresh framework for understanding their role in education reform.

BA Willamette University
PhD University of Wisconsin-Madison