Biography

Ann Obadan is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Heldrich Center. She is also an education policy specialist and a project manager. She received her Ph.D. from the Harry S. Truman School of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Missouri-Columbia, where she is also a research fellow under the emerging scholars program. Ann has a graduate certificate in nonprofit management from the University of Missouri, a Master’s in Public and International Affairs from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, and a Bachelor of Arts in French from the University of Benin, Nigeria. She has experience working as a director of professional development, project manager, teacher, and research consultant with various organizations, including the World Bank Group.

Her research focuses on examining the effectiveness of educational policies and programs that seek to address inequalities of resources in schools and how such policies and programs can close the gap between historically disadvantaged students and their privileged peers. She has worked on various monitoring and evaluation projects in the areas of school finance reforms, federal grants, state aid policies, kindergarten entry assessment, art education and early childhood education.