Joanne W. Golann is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Education and an Assistant Professor of Sociology (secondary appointment) at Vanderbilt University. Trained as a sociologist and an ethnographer, she seeks to understand how culture shapes educational policy and practice. She is committed to listening and learning from others, and wants her students to develop a critical lens and a sense of empathy when evaluating educational policies and programs.

Dr. Golann’s research focuses on how schools and families transmit cultural skills, behaviors, and habits to children. In her book, Scripting the Moves: Culture & Control in a “No-Excuses” Charter School (Princeton University Press, 2021), she draws from 18 months of fieldwork inside a high-performing school to examine how the school’s rigid structures prepare students with the skills they need for college. She is also a lead researcher on the New Jersey Families Study, an innovative two-week, in-home video-ethnography project that explores how families, across race and social class, build skills and knowledge in their children in their earliest years.

Dr. Golann received a Ph.D. in Sociology from Princeton University. She received a master’s degree in social sciences from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in English from Amherst College. She also is a recipient of the National Academy of Education/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship.