Johanek, Michael C. (mcj2009)

Ed.D.       TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
                 History and Education
M.A.        TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
                 Teaching of Social Studies
B.A.         GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
                 Economics, Philosophy

A former high school teacher/administrator, non-profit leader, and start-up executive, Dr. Johanek is a Visiting Scholar in the Center on History and Education, Edmund W. Gordon Institute for Advanced Study, where he is writing a book on the last five decades of school reform efforts through the lens of a Chicago community organization, exploring the varied means local leaders have taken to affect change in this central public institution. He is also a Distinguished Senior Fellow, National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST), and currently teaches as Adjunct Professor in the Education Policy & Social Analysis Division EPSA), both at Teachers College. He is a Research Professor, Lynch School of Education and Human Development, and Research Advisor/Affiliated Scholar, Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, both of Boston College. He currently directs the Red Interamericana de Liderazgo Educacional (RILE) and The Judgment Project. He teaches as Profesor Invitado Internacional at La Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and as Profesor Invitado of the educational leadership programs at La Universidad de Los Andes, Colombia.  He currently leads a major emerging national school leadership project in Chile, called the LIDERA Initiative, a multi-institutional research-practice partnership in its Foundations Phase.

Prior to 2025, Dr. Johanek directed the Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership and the Penn Educational Leadership Simulations Program for 17 years at the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania.  Before Penn, he served as VP of Professional Services for the start-up Teachscape, as Executive Director, K-12 Professional Development for The College Board, and as a secondary social studies teacher in Cleveland, New York, and Peru.  

His current research interests include the nature of situated judgment in leadership development across professions and internationally; the history of recent US urban educational reforms, especially as instruments of adult civic engagement and development; community-centered and place-based approaches to education; and the role of global professional infrastructure in educational leadership.  He is currently editing a volume for Oxford University Press tentatively entitled “The Five-Second Dilemma:  Situated Judgment Across Professions (tent. 2027).

Dr. Johanek’s recent publications include Johanek, M. (2022). “’If you want justice, organize for power!’ Community organizing, Catholicism and Chicago school reform.” Journal of Educational Administration and History; and Volante, P., Jeldres, R., Spero, K., Llorente, C., & Johanek, M. (2020). “Simulations for the learning of decision making in educational leadership in the context of the Chilean school system.” Research in Educational Administration & Leadership, 5(1), 1–41. His recent books include Making up our Mind: What School Choice is Really About, University of Chicago (with Sigal Ben-Porath, 2019) and Leadership from an Inquiry Stance, Teachers College Press (co-edited with Lytle, Lytle and Rho, 2018).