Shannon Paige Clark
Research Affiliate
MSW in Management and Community Organizing; University of Maryland, 2013
BA in Psychology and Sociology; Emory University, 2009
Research Interests:
Black Education
Critical Qualitative Research
Family, School, and Community Partnerships
Hyper-segregated Schools
School Organization and Leadership
About:
Shannon Paige Clark conducts research at the intersection of educational policy, Black studies, and leadership. She is a Research Affiliate of the Black Studies Department, and an Assistant Professor of Organizational Leadership at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
Shannon worked alongside Dr. kihana miraya ross as a Postdoctoral Fellow from 2022-2024 to examine the Evanston reparations initiative, and the ongoing fight for Black educational justice in Evanston's 5th Ward. The culminating product from Shannon’s work as a fellow is STOLEN SCHOOL, a 35-minute documentary produced with Dr. ross in partnership with Shorefront Legacy Center. The film chronicles the ongoing fight for a 5th ward school that honors the expressed needs and wants of Evanston’s Black families.
Shannon loves to be in schools interacting with students and families. She spent over a decade as an elementary school teacher. She believes research should be humanizing, participatory, and grounded in the premise that lived experiences are invaluable. Shannon was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland.
Selected Work:
ross, k.m. & Clark, S.P. (Executive Producers & Producers), Bell, L & Robinson, M. (Producers), Nash, R (Director). (2024). Stolen School [Film]. Endangered Peace Productions. www.stolenschool.com
"70 years after Brown, too many U.S. schools remain hypersegregated and unequal." Chalkbeat op-ed (May 2024). https://www.chalkbeat.org/2024/05/17/marking-brown-v-board-anniversary-many-schools-are-hypersegregated-and-unequal/
"CPS’ principal discretion process favors families with abundant resources." Chicago Tribune op-ed (April 2024). https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/04/12/opinion-cps-school-choice-selective-enrollment-high-schools/
Clark, S.P. (2022). ‘We Are Trying.’ Portraits of Black Goodness in Spite of Anti-Black Schooling. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Illinois at Chicago. https://doi.org/10.25417/uic.20254182.v1
Diem, S., Welton, A. Walters, S., and Clark, S.P (2021). Becoming an Anti-Racist Leader: Understanding the Nexus of Race, Politics, and Neoliberalism in Everyday Leadership. 2nd Handbook on Urban Educational Leadership.
Irby, D., Green, T., Ishimaru, A., Clark, S.P., & Han, A. (2021). K-12 Equity Directors: Configuring the Role for Impact and Change. Center for Urban Education Leadership.
Irby, D. & Clark, S.P. (2018). Talk it (Racism) Out: Race Talk and Organizational Learning. Journal of Educational Administration, 56(5), 504-518.