Linn Posey-Maddox
Associate Professor
(608) 262-6863
219 Education Building
1000 Bascom Mall
Madison, WI 53706
Linn Posey-Maddox is an Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She is also an affiliate of the Department of Afro-American Studies, the Department of Sociology, and the Institute for Research on Poverty. Posey-Maddox’s research and teaching interests are focused on urban and suburban education; education and urban policy; and family-school relationships. In her research she seeks to understand: 1) how social inequities linked to race, class, and place shape the school and community experiences of parents, students, and teachers and 2) how individuals and groups contribute to the production, reproduction, or challenging of educational inequities in their choices and everyday actions. She uses qualitative methods to explore these questions, and draws principally on sociological perspectives. She is the author of When Middle-Class Parents Choose Urban Schools: Class, Race, and the Challenge of Equity in Public Education (University of Chicago). She has published articles in journals such as Teachers College Record, the British Journal of Sociology of Education, the Journal of Education Policy, and the American Journal of Education. Both Dr. Posey-Maddox’s teaching and research are informed by her experiences as a former elementary school teacher.
Education
- PhD Social and Cultural Studies in Education, University of California, Berkeley, 2009
- MA Social and Cultural Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 2005
- BA Political Science, Macalester College, 2000
Select Publications
- Diamond, J., & Posey-Maddox, L. (2020). Guest editors’ introduction: The changing terrain of the suburbs: Examining race, class, and place in suburban schools and communities. Equity and Excellence in Education https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10665684.2020.1758975.
- Posey-Maddox, L., McKinney de Royston, M., Holman, A., Rall, R., & Johnson, R. (In Press). No choice is the ‘right’ choice: Black parents’ educational decision-making in their search for a ‘good’ school. Harvard Educational Review
- Diamond, J., Posey-Maddox, L. E., & Velazquez, M. (2020). Reframing Suburbs: Race, place and opportunity in suburban educational spaces. Educational Researcher https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/0013189X20972676.
- Posey-Maddox, L. (2017). Schooling in suburbia: The intersections of race, class, gender, and place in Black fathers’ engagement and family-school relationships.. Gender and Education, 5, 577-593. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09540253.2016.1274389.
- Posey-Maddox, L. (2017). Race in Place: Black Parents, Family-School Relations, and Multi-spatial Microaggressions in a Predominantly White Suburb. Teachers College Record, 119(11), 1-42. http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=21970.
- Posey-Maddox, L. (2016). Challenging the Dichotomy Between “Urban” and “Suburban” in Education Discourse and Policy. The Educational Forum, 80(2), 225-241. Kappa Delta Pi http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00131725.2016.1135377?tokenDomain=eprints&tokenAccess=Hha4HgBANHyzzKRvvEbD&forwardService=showFullText&doi=10.1080%2F00131725.2016.1135377&doi=10.1080%2F00131725.2016.1135377&journalCode=utef20.
- Posey-Maddox, L., & Haley-Lock, A. (2016). One size does not fit all: Understanding parental engagement in the contexts of work, family, and public education.. Urban Education, 1-28. http://uex.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/07/21/0042085916660348.full.pdf?ijkey=ILTREyRJ9vzF2qZ&keytype=finite.
- Posey-Maddox, L. (2016). Beyond the consumer: Parents, privatization, and fundraising in U.S. urban public schooling. Journal of Education Policy, 31(2), 178-197. http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/dbSgXAvrrQhIa68WZ5Xx/full.
- Haley-Lock, A., & Posey-Maddox, L. (2016). Fitting It All In: How Mothers’ Employment Shapes Their School Engagement. Journal of Community, Work, and Family, 19, 302-321. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13668803.2015.1023699?journalCode=ccwf20.
- Posey-Maddox, L., Kimelberg, S. M., & Cucchiara, M. A. (2016). Seeking a ‘Critical Mass’: Middle-Class Parents’ Collective Engagement in City Public Schooling. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37, 905-927. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2014.986564.
Select Presentations
- Posey-Maddox, L. Black in the ‘Burbs: Black parent engagement and experiences in suburban schools. presented at the Association of Black Sociologists, New York, New York.
- Posey-Maddox, L. Black in the ‘Burbs: Parents, community, and schooling in a predominantly Black suburb. presented at the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, CANADA.
- Posey-Maddox, L., McKinney de Royston, M., Holman, A., Rall, R., & Johnson, R. No choice is the right choice: Understanding Black parents’ school choices. presented at the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, CANADA.
- Posey-Maddox, L. ‘Bridging the gaps’: Black parent advocacy for student academic success. presented at the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY.
- Posey-Maddox, L. E. Lessons about race: Influences on black parents’ racial socialization in a predominantly white suburban context. presented at the American Sociological Association, Toronto, CANADA.
- Posey-Maddox, L. E. Lessons about Race and Place: Race Socialization and the Educational Engagement of Black Suburban Parents. presented at the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
- Posey-Maddox, L. E. Living and Learning in Suburbia: Black Parents, Family School Relationships, and Lessons about Race. presented at the Association of Black Sociologists, Chicago, IL.
- Posey-Maddox, L. E. 'A Resume to Participate?': Race, Class, and Collective Parent Involvement in Urban Public Schooling. presented at the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA.
- Posey-Maddox, L. E. Integration Through Gentrification? The Politics of Race, Class, and Demographic Change in a City Public School. presented at the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.
- Posey-Maddox, L. E. Integration Through Gentrification?: The Politics of Race, Class, and Demographic Change in a City Public School. presented at the Interrogating Diversity Conference, American University, Washington D.C..
Select Awards and Honors
- Impact 2030 Faculty Fellow Award, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2020
- Vilas Mid-Career Investigator Award, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2018
- Vilas Associates Award, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2017
- UW-Madison Class of 1955 Teaching Excellence Award, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2016
- Outstanding Reviewer Award (2015, 2016), American Educational Research Journal, American Educational Research Association, (2015, 2016)