Her first book, A Cord of Three Strands: A New Approach to Parent Engagement in Schools (Harvard Education Press, 2011), examines the role of community organizing groups in facilitating relationships between families and schools and promoting new forms of parent engagement and leadership. Her research focuses on the relationship between schools, families, and communities. She examines issues such as parent leadership, education organizing and school-community partnerships. She explores these as avenues for school and community transformation, particularly in communities that seek to foster improved relationships between families and schools. These research questions originate from her experience as an elementary and middle school humanities teacher. She holds an Ed.D. from Harvard University and a B.A. and M.T. from the University of Virginia.