Expertise
Research and Evaluation in Education, Educational Leadership
Research Interests
K12 School and District Policy; School Discipline Reform; Restorative Justice; Equity-Centered School Change; Social and Emotional Learning; DEI in Higher Education
Education
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Educational Leadership, New York University
- Master of Education (M.Ed.) Secondary English Teacher Education, Harvard University
- Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) English, Tufts University
Biosketch
Hilary Lustick, Ph.D., is an associate professor of Research and Evaluation in the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where she teaches students in the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) and Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) programs.
Lustick studies restorative practices, social emotional learning, and other preventative approaches to school discipline and climate. She also studies academic freedom, the role of emotion in data analysis, and the implications of both for promoting equity and diversity in the academy. Her teaching experience includes courses in educational leadership, action research, qualitative methods, and academic writing. Lustick’s career began as a community organizer, first in the Jewish community and then with young people in Somerville and Boston. After two years coaching young speechmakers and performance artists in organizing skills, she wanted to infuse those same lessons in an educational setting. Lustick trained as an educator and interned at the South Boston High School complex before taking a permanent teaching position at the Kurt Hahn Expeditionary Learning School in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. There, she taught 10th and 11th grade English and Humanities courses, as well as intensive seminars that fostered critical thinking and writing skills through social action. Still an organizer at heart, Lustick joined the New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE), seeking to train new teachers in the historical context of educational inequality in the city and fight for more teachers of color in the city schools. She became interested in the ways power plays out in schools, and the role school discipline plays in reinforcing this power structure, even at a school with a progressive philosophy like expeditionary learning.
Lustick earned her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from New York University, studying restorative justice practices and their role in school culture. She taught school leaders and researchers at Texas State University for four years, and continued researching schools with an overtly critical approach to restorative justice implementation, remaining active in the evolving national conversations about what these terms mean for educational equity. She has also taken part in The Degree Project, a longitudinal randomized control study of promise scholarships, and the Active Voice Project, researching how scholars, activists, and teachers take action to disrupt disproportionality in discipline and special education. She joined the faculty at UMass Lowell in the fall of 2020.
Dissertation Advising Topics: Social Emotional Learning; Restorative Justice; Inclusive School Reform; Alternative School Accountability Policy; Equity-Focused Program Evaluation
Methodologies: Qualitative, Interviewing, Focus Groups, Critical Discourse Analysis, Case Study, Ethnography
Courses Taught:
- Qualitative Methods (PhD, EdD, and Certificate in Evaluation and Assessment)
- Qualitative Coding and Analysis (PhD)
- Research Writing Seminar (PhD)
- Restorative Justice (EdD)
- Foundations of Social Justice Education (Master's)
Service:
- Editorial Board, Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership
- Editorial Board, Journal of Education
- Quala Lab
- REE Pathway Coordinator (2025-Present)
- Faculty Mental Health Advocates (2023-Present)
- OFER Equity Leader (2025-Present)
- AI Student Advisory Committee (2025-Present)
- Qualitative Working Group (2023-2024)
- School of Education PhD Coordinator (2024-2025)
- Faculty Senate (Fall 2023)
Selected Publications
In the News:
Lustick (2025, August 8). Trump has promised to eliminate funding to schools that don't nix DEI work but half of the states are not complying.
Books:
Culturally Responsive Restorative Leadership: Necessary Dilemmas for Transforming School Culture (Routledge, 2025)
Articles:
Lustick, H., Hakouz, A., Ward-Seidel, & Gaias, L. (2024). What makes restorative justice equitable? “It’s a practice, not a program.” Journal of Educational Administration, 62(4), 403- 416.
Lustick, H., *Yang, X., & *Hakouz, A. (2024). The role of emotions in qualitative analysis: Researchers’ perspectives. The Qualitative Report, 29(4). 29(4), 1103- 1124.
Lustick, H., Johnson, M., Register, L., & Gilzene, A. (2024). Restorative Justice in a “Don’t Say Gay” State: Are Relationships Enough? Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 27(2), 88-104. (Original work published 2024)
Book Chapter:
Lustick. H. (2025). Using Restorative Practices to Teach Qualitative Methods to Doctoral Students. In Restorative Justice in Higher Education. Roth, K. & Kumah-Abiwu, F., Eds. Palgrave.