Charol Shakeshaft, Ph.D.

Education

• Ph.D. in educational leadership and social science methods, Texas A&M University
• M.A. in organizational theory, Texas A&M University
• B.A. in English literature, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Research interests

Gender and race in educational policy and theory, educator sexual misconduct, effectiveness of technology for learning

Career highlights

• Inducted as a fellow into the American Educational Research Association (AERA)
• Received the 2015 AERA Distinguished Contributions to Gender Equity in Education Research Award
• Received the Effie H. Jones Humanitarian Award from the American Association of School Administrators

Recent publications/projects

Among the subjects of Shakeshaft’s recent research are:

• Standard of care for the prevention of educator sexual misconduct
• Race and gender influences on the career paths of U.S. principals
• The relationship of stress and health: a national study of superintendents

Bio

Dr. Charol Shakeshaft has been studying equity in schools for more than four decades. She is an AERA fellow with two additional awards from AERA for outstanding research.

Shakeshaft is the author of four books and more than 200 referred articles and papers, many of which have received national and state awards. Her research focuses on three strands: gender and leadership, sexual abuse of students by other students and/or adults employed in schools, and the effectiveness of technology for learning, particularly for students of color. She is currently completing a book to be published by the Harvard Education Press in 2023: Organizational Betrayal: How Schools Enable Employee Sexual Misconduct and How to Stop It.

Dr. Shakeshaft is currently researching Prevention of Educator Sexual Misconduct, funded for $1.2M by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the past, she was the recipient of U.S. Department of Education funding to develop state-of-the-art principal preparation, including the first immersive, interactive and Web-enabled computer simulation for school administrators. She previously completed a three-year national study of the relationships between a school-based risk prevention program and risk behaviors of sixth- to eighth-grade students. Shakeshaft was also the principal investigator on a three-year National Science Foundation project to promote interest in science careers among seventh- and eighth-grade girls, particularly middle school girls of color from low-income families.

Charol Shakeshaft is active in professional organizations and is currently the president of Women Leading in Education Across Continents, an organization to promote gender equity and leadership for girls and women. She teaches in the Department of Educational Leadership and, for the past three years, has mentored teams of undergraduate students of color in research methods while working on equity research.

Curriculum Vitae