Thomas Albright

My research is steeped in critical theories, social studies education, curriculum theory, youth participatory action research, posthumanism, post qualitative studies, critical qualitative methodologies, social justice education, and inter/transdisciplinary educational theories. Research projects include a focus on democratic possibilities within school, university, and community partnerships, along with other lines of inquiry focusing on schooling, resistance, third-space possibilities, posthumanist accountings of schooling, educational hauntings, and examining issues of racial and social justice within teacher education.

My scholarship has been published in such places as the Harvard Educational Review, Teaching and Teacher Education, Urban Education, Race Ethnicity and Education, Educational Studies, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, and Curriculum Inquiry. I also co-edited Critical Thinking on Youth Participatory Action Research: Participation, Power, and Purpose, which explores the affordances, constraints, and challenges of conducting intergenerational participatory action research. This book won the 2025 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award. My first individually authored book, Agential Schooling, re-imagines schooling, positioning it as a nonhuman agent, and was awarded the 2026 Society of Professors of Education Outstanding Book Award. I also have a co-edited book, Critical Approaches for Teacher Residencies: Dreaming New Ways Forward in School, University, and Community Entanglements, that advocates for a critical turn in teacher residency work.

In summary, my work expands our theorizing around notions of agency, participation, and entangling various research traditions with an interdisciplinary focus on methodology, teaching, schooling, and learning, while making key interventions in qualitative methodologies, educational theory, teacher preparation, social foundations, and critical youth studies.