Education Law Scholars Early Career Fellows
The field of education law and policy is inherently intersectional and interdisciplinary. Thus, navigating its complexities can raise unique intricacies and challenges for early-career scholars. The Education Law Scholars Early Career Fellowship is designed to support the professional development of early career scholars who specialize in education law and policy. The focus of the fellowship will include:
- Mentorship on how to navigate academia as an education law scholar and
- Constructive feedback on a work-in-progress to advance the scholars’ research agendas.
2025 Fellows
Terry Allen, Assistant Professor of Law, USC Gould School of Law
Terry Allen is an education law scholar who researches and writes about the relationship between law and inequality, particularly in educational environments. Allen received his BA in rhetoric from University of California, Berkeley; his MA in education policy from Columbia University; his PhD in education from University of California Los Angeles; and his law degree from UCLA School of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of UCLA Law Review. His scholarship has appeared or is forthcoming in law journals including New York University Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, UCLA Law Review, Social Problems, and Educational Researcher.
Josh Almes
Josh served as a high school social studies teacher for ten years in rural western Pennsylvania before pursuing a doctorate in Education Leadership and Policy at Penn State University. Josh’s research examines educational inequities through a spatial lens, as seen in his dissertation research, where he analyzed the way Pennsylvania school districts are drawn in comparison to algorithmically constructed counterfactual geometries. Josh also examines issues surrounding collective bargaining rights of educators, access to professional development and tuition reimbursement, as well as how rural areas navigate community development. Josh is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, where he examines school finance policies.
Steven M. Carlo, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, Monmouth University
Dr. Carlo’s scholarship and teaching focus on educational policy, equity-centered leadership, legal and civic learning, and the use of AI to support democratic practices in education.
Kris Caudle, Visiting Assistant Professor, Elon University School of Law
Professor Caudle's scholarship focuses on the intersection of K-12 public education law and the First Amendment's Free Speech and Religion Clauses. Prior to entering academia full-time, Professor Caudle worked in private practice in North Carolina representing local boards of education in a wide variety of state and federal matters, with an emphasis on IDEA and Title IX litigation, as well as appellate advocacy. Professor Caudle is a North Carolina native and graduate of the UNC School of Law.
Maggie Paino (she/her) Ph.D. student, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Maggie's research focuses on the tensions between the legal rights of students, educators, and parents in the public school setting. Prior to graduate school, Maggie served as Legal Counsel and Director of Accountability for the Indiana Department of Education, and taught high school English in Washington, D.C. She received her Doctor of Jurisprudence from Indiana University Maurer School of Law.
Shantel Palacio, Education Law & Policy Scholar | Leadership Consultant
Shantel Palacio recently earned a Ph.D. in Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of New Hampshire. Her research explores the intersection of law and policy in education, with a focus on governance structures, patterns of segregation, and the allocation of resources. She employs legal-historical, quantitative, and qualitative analysis, building on more than a decade of leadership experience in the New York City Department of Education and consulting for private and public agencies. Her research has been featured in various media, including NPR, West's Education Law Reporter, and The Gotham Film and Media Institute.
Zalman Rothschild, Assistant Professor of Law and Horn Family Distinguished Research Scholar in Law and Religion, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
Previously, Zalman was a Bigelow Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School. His scholarship has appeared in Columbia Law Review, Cornell Law Review, Georgetown Law Journal, Yale Law Journal Forum, and several other academic publications, and has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and the New York Review of Books. His writing for popular audiences has appeared in the Atlantic, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and the Washington Post. In 2023, the Law and Religion Section of the Association of American Law Schools awarded Zalman the Harold Berman Award for Excellence in Scholarship.