Her research engages qualitative participatory methodologies to highlight opportunities for supporting youth’s literacy learning across contexts of urban education, secondary English education, college access, and teacher education. A central part of her research agenda involves highlighting opportunities for culturally and linguistically diverse youth to examine how their schooling experiences are influenced by tensions that emerge when students encounter educational inequities. Joanne is co-author (with Michelle G. Knight-Manuel) of College Ready: Preparing Black and Latina/o Youth for Higher Education - A Culturally Relevant Approach (Teachers College Press, 2013). She has also published research findings in Urban Education, English Journal, The Urban Review, and Literacy.