Julie Sugarman

Julie Sugarman is Associate Director for K-12 Education Research at MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, where she focuses on multilingual learner education and helps stakeholders understand complex research and policy issues, improve program design, and evaluate program effectiveness.

At MPI, Dr. Sugarman has published analyses on topics such as federal policy supporting immigrant-background and English Learner (EL) students, school funding, federal and state data systems, and assessment and accountability. Additionally, she has published numerous research reports on how state and federal policies impact the educational options of newcomers who arrive in U.S. schools in high school. She has been an active contributor to policy efforts in the field, including as a member of the Public Policy Professional Council of TESOL International Association and as an advisor to the executive board of the National Association of English Language Program Administrators. She has also provided expertise to the Office of English Language Acquisition at the U.S. Department of Education; the Council of Chief State School Officers; the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; and numerous state and local education agencies and community-based organizations.

She came to MPI from the Center for Applied Linguistics, where she specialized in the evaluation of educational programs for language learners and in dual language/two-way immersion programs. At CAL, she directed comprehensive program evaluations of instruction for ELs in K-12, and contributed to numerous research and evaluation projects, including studies of biliteracy development in two-way immersion programs.

Dr. Sugarman earned a B.A. in anthropology and French from Bryn Mawr College, an M.A. in anthropology from the University of Virginia, and a Ph.D. in second language education and culture from the University of Maryland, College Park.