Valerie is a third-year doctoral student in educational policy and planning at The University of Texas at Austin. She has more than 15 years of experience as an educator, spanning a special needs school in England, an international school in the Middle East, and charter and public schools in Texas. She has served as a special education teacher, elementary classroom teacher, middle school math teacher, instructional coach, and elementary school assistant principal. She is interested in studying education policies that impact equity in P-12 schools and more broadly create social change. She is currently studying racial and economic segregation, opportunity hoarding, and educational outcomes. She earned a bachelor's degree in child study and language development from Southwestern University and a master's degree in curriculum and instruction from Michigan State University.