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IUPUI

Brendan Maxcy

School of Education, Urban Education Counseling, Leadership and Policy Studies

Expert Bio

Brendan Maxcy is an associate professor of urban education leadership and policy studies at the IU School of Education at IUPUI, where he served as associate dean of research and faculty development from 2018 to 2022. As chair of graduate programs, coordinator of educational leadership programs and director of the Urban Principals Program, he has helped lead the school’s effort to prepare school-, district- and state-level leaders to employ equity-focused, anti-oppressive practices. He researches accountability policies and leader responses to these practices.

In addition to work on U.S. schooling, Maxcy studied leadership responses to national reforms and intense regional unrest in southern Thailand. He was co-principal investigator for two federally funded centers enhancing student access to and participation in high-quality education regardless of race, sex and national origin.

He has authored and co-authored more than 40 articles, chapters and reports and co-edited the 2010 Politics of Education Association yearbook. The Politics of Education Association named his doctoral study of district and school governance the Outstanding Dissertation on the Politics of Education. In recognition of his contributions to the field, he received the Jack A. Culbertson Award given annually by the University Council for Educational Administration to an outstanding junior professor of educational administration.

Areas of Expertise

Education politics and policy, educational accountability, educational leadership, education research, urban education, critical leadership studies, critical policy analysis, organizational theory.