Mollie McQuillan is an Assistant Professor in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. McQuillan’s research focuses on the intersection of educational policy, leadership, school climate, and health of LGBTQ+ populations.
Dr. McQuillan was a guest editor of a special issue of Educational Researcher on Trans Studies in PK-12 Education. Several articles in this special issue can inform educational leaders' understanding of gendered policies, procedures, and practices.
*McQuillan, M. T. (2022). A starting point: Gender, hot cognition, and trans-informed administrative guidance: Educational Researcher, 51(5), 336-351. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X221084707
*Suárez, M. I., McQuillan, M. T., Keenan, H. B., & Iskander, L. (2022). Differences in trans employees’ and students’ school experiences. Educational Researcher, 51(5), 352–358. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X221100834
*Mangin, M. M., Keenan, H. B., Meyer, E. J., McQuillan, M. T., Suárez, M. I., & Iskander, L. (2022). Editors’ introduction: Toward Trans Studies in K–12 Education. Educational Researcher, 51(5), 302–306. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X221105513
Please check out Dr. McQuillan important scholarship and consider the implications for the field of educational leadership. For more information, follow Dr. McQuillan on Twitter @msmmcquillan.
Description
The articles in this special issue of Educational Researcher provide conceptual framings, empirical, and practical recommendations for scholars and educational leaders interested in examining gender within K12 education institutions and engaging with trans knowledge and communities. Three empirical articles in the special issue directly relate to Division A’s focus on PK-12 leadership practices and policy reforms.
Division A member Mollie McQuillan uses a mixed methods approach in “A Starting Point: Gender, Hot Cognition, and Trans-Informed Administrative Guidance” to examine the design of PK-12 administrative guidance documents concerning transgender students from a representative sample of 112 school districts. McQuillan draws from trans studies, organizational studies, and cognitive psychology to describe why trans-informed guidance can be an effective tool to introduce complex gender “definitions,” the legal underpinnings of trans-informed administrative actions, and broaden administrators’ ability to appropriate respond to the diverse needs of students. McQuillan also provides evidence of language from administrative guidance documents that add barriers for administrators who aim to support trans students. McQuillan proposes codesigning trans-informed, specific administrative guidance as part of a broader cycle of inquiry to implement and expand gender-diversity reforms.
In a second article, “Differences in Trans Employees’ and Students’ School Experiences,” Mario I. Suárez, Mollie McQuillan, Harper Keenan, and Lee Iskander, provides a descriptive analysis of a sample of 296 trans-identified school workers in Canada and the United States. The authors find trans PK-12 school workers may have greater structural supports but fewer social supports when compared to trans students in the same school. Suárez and colleagues highlight the need for school leaders and policymakers to direct attention to trans adults in schools in addition to the students they serve.
Finally, the special issue includes a qualitative study from Division A member Melinda Mangin that describes supportive teachers’ attempts to decrease gendered practices, increase discussions about gender, and affirm individual student's gender identity. Mangin centers cisnormative school structures and institutionalized practices as a core obstacle to supporting trans and gender-expansive students. PK-12 leaders and scholars may be interested in learning from Mangin's descriptions of educators who push back against institutionalized cisnormativity. Mangin also led the special issue effort, which stemmed from a Spencer Foundation-funded learning community she organized on trans studies in K-12 educational research
The articles in this special issue of Educational Researcher provide conceptual framings, empirical, and practical recommendations for scholars and educational leaders interested in examining gender within K12 education institutions and engaging with trans knowledge and communities. Three empirical articles in the special issue directly relate to Division A’s focus on PK-12 leadership practices and policy reforms.
Division A member Mollie McQuillan uses a mixed methods approach in “A Starting Point: Gender, Hot Cognition, and Trans-Informed Administrative Guidance” to examine the design of PK-12 administrative guidance documents concerning transgender students from a representative sample of 112 school districts. McQuillan draws from trans studies, organizational studies, and cognitive psychology to describe why trans-informed guidance can be an effective tool to introduce complex gender “definitions,” the legal underpinnings of trans-informed administrative actions, and broaden administrators’ ability to appropriate respond to the diverse needs of students. McQuillan also provides evidence of language from administrative guidance documents that add barriers for administrators who aim to support trans students. McQuillan proposes codesigning trans-informed, specific administrative guidance as part of a broader cycle of inquiry to implement and expand gender-diversity reforms.
In a second article, “Differences in Trans Employees’ and Students’ School Experiences,” Mario I. Suárez, Mollie McQuillan, Harper Keenan, and Lee Iskander, provides a descriptive analysis of a sample of 296 trans-identified school workers in Canada and the United States. The authors find trans PK-12 school workers may have greater structural supports but fewer social supports when compared to trans students in the same school. Suárez and colleagues highlight the need for school leaders and policymakers to direct attention to trans adults in schools in addition to the students they serve.
Finally, the special issue includes a qualitative study from Division A member Melinda Mangin that describes supportive teachers’ attempts to decrease gendered practices, increase discussions about gender, and affirm individual student's gender identity. Mangin centers cisnormative school structures and institutionalized practices as a core obstacle to supporting trans and gender-expansive students. PK-12 leaders and scholars may be interested in learning from Mangin's descriptions of educators who push back against institutionalized cisnormativity. Mangin also led the special issue effort, which stemmed from a Spencer Foundation-funded learning community she organized on trans studies in K-12 educational research