Jessica Heybach is Professor of Educational Leadership in the Department of Educational Leadership, Research, and Technology at Western Michigan University. She is currently serving as Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Education and Human Development. Her scholarly interests center on social foundations of education, democratic education, philosophy of education, Deweyan aesthetics, and critical leadership studies. Her work is committed to bridging the gap between theory and practice, and advocates for the development of more democratic forms of leadership, school policy, and practice. She has published in such journals as the Critical Questions in Education, Education and Culture, Education Policy Analysis Archives, Educational Philosophy and Theory, Educational Studies, Health Education Journal, Oxford Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Education, and Philosophical Studies in Education. She co-edited Dystopia and Education: Insights into Theory, Praxis, and Policy with Eric C. Sheffield (2013, AESA Critics Choice Award Winner), and Making Sense of Race in Education: Practices for Change in Difficult Times with Sheron Fraser-Burgess (2021, SPE Book Award, 2021 AESA Critics Choice Award). She co-edited the Cambridge Handbook on Ethics and Education (2024) with Sheron Fraser-Burgess and Dini Metro-Roland. She is the President-Elect of the John Dewey Society, Program Chair of the Dewey Studies SIG of the American Educational Research Association, past-president of the Ohio Valley Philosophy of Education Society, and the Southeast Philosophy of Education Society.
