Susan Kemper Patrick

Susan Kemper Patrick is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations at Vanderbilt University. She currently works for the Tennessee Education Research Alliance.

Susan’s research primarily examines inequities in the learning opportunities available to both students and their teachers. She is particularly interested in understanding how decision-making at the teacher, school, and district levels can exacerbate or mitigate these inequities. Much of her work has focused on school improvement efforts meant to support teacher or principal learning, and she draws on organizational theories to consider how structural, social, and normative conditions within schools shape how these efforts are taken up and enacted. She uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to better capture and understand the experiences of educators and the implementation of policies meant to support their development.

Prior to her doctoral studies, Susan spent three years teaching middle school reading and three years working in youth-serving non-profits. She received a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership in Policy from Vanderbilt University in 2019, a M.Ed. in Learning, Diversity, and Urban Studies from Vanderbilt University in 2010, and a B.A. in African and African-American Studies from Duke University in 2007.