Sarah L. Woulfin

Sarah Woulfin is an associate professor of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Texas-Austin who studies the relationship between education policy, district and school leadership, and equitable instruction. After serving as a teacher and Reading First reading coach, Dr. Woulfin received her Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Berkeley.

Using lenses of organizational sociology and qualitative methods, Dr. Woulfin investigates pressing issues of district and school reform and illuminates how infrastructure and leadership shape improvement efforts.

Dr. Woulfin's work has been published in journals such as American Journal of Education, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, and Teaching and Teacher Education. Her research has been funded by the Spencer Foundation and Wallace Foundation. Currently, Dr. Woulfin is a co-editor of Educational Researcher.

Authored Blog Posts

Title	Authored on
Infrastructure Matters	Feb 08, 2023
Painting a Portrait of Professional Learning for the Science of Reading	Sep 14, 2022
Constructing And Animating The Infrastructure For Reading Instruction	Jan 13, 2022

Recent Blog Posts

Publications

The Adequacy and Fairness of State School Finance Systems (Sixth Edition)
A national evaluation of the K-12 school finance systems of all 50 states and D.C., published by researchers from the Albert Shanker Institute, University of Miami, and Rutgers Graduate School of Education.
Reading Reform Across America: A Survey of State Legislation
This report authored by Susan B. Neuman (New York University), Esther Quintero (Albert Shanker Institute), and Kayla Reist (University of Virginia), examines reading-related state legislation enacted between 2019 and 2022.
The Source Code: Revenue Composition and the Adequacy, Equity, and Stability of K-12 School Spending
A national analysis of the relationship between K-12 revenue composition—that is, the percentage of funding that comes from state versus local sources—and the adequacy, equity, and stability of school spending.

Blog Archives

Our Mission

The Albert Shanker Institute, endowed by the American Federation of Teachers and named in honor of its late president, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to three themes - excellence in public education, unions as advocates for quality, and freedom of association in the public life of democracies. With an independent Board of Directors (composed of educators, business representatives, labor leaders, academics, and public policy analysts), its mission is to generate ideas, foster candid exchanges, and promote constructive policy proposals related to these issues.

This blog offers informal commentary on the research, news, and controversies related to the work of the Institute.