Dr. Megan Lane
I met Megan (who is Dr. Lane) when I joined the Talent office, primarily because of locations - our seats are diagonal. It helped that she had a fun thing going on, where we always had some food at ‘Random Cafe’, and pancakes on many Fridays. Both her intelligence and empathy shine through immediately; she has been the department’s Data Scientist and is now moving into a Teacher Retention role. Once you read this piece and learn about her academic and career trajectory, you will see how the throughline of education comes across clearly. Reach out to her if you want to learn more about data science, educational research, or share a glass of wine over nerdy conversation.
I start with my usual favorite question of what she sees as her origin story, where does it start. She tells me that she would not be here without her mom, and it is more of a practical influence than inspirational. After undergrad, she almost went to Law school, but hesitated to immediately commit to three more years of schooling and living like a student. Fainting at the sight of blood made the pre-med path unlikely as well. Her mom was a teacher and suggested she teach as she figured things out. Since then she has been Megan’s mentor and guide; they opened a charter school in 2014 and co-led the school for 5 years together.
It was also teaching where their paths diverged: her mom loved being in a classroom; Megan enjoyed thinking about systems and how to remove systemic barriers to education. This thinking is also one of the reasons that brought her to Chicago Public Schools. As a child, she played teacher but she also played astronaut and ballerina, so this is not a path she always knew she would be on.
Along the way she muses about the mistakes she made, but also how they were never ones that would derail anything completely. Rather they were mostly opportunities to be better academically and professionally. She did her Master’s in International Education Policy, which was driven by a fascination with the Norwegian and Finnish education systems, and how teachers were seen as professionals and what lessons they hold for us. Her equity lens is not just local and national; she cares about worldwide equity which is founded in her belief that education is a right and not a privilege. To learn more, she has taught in Namibia and Spain, and when she came back, opened the charter school with her mom to put into practice what she had learned. While running the school, she received her PhD and eventually went on to become a Harvard Data Fellow.
What keeps her going professionally is how she is solving different problems versus doing the same thing everyday. Uncovering trends through data, surfacing challenges, and designing interventions are all things that make her love her work and stretch her learning. Meeting people who are passionate, and mission-driven keeps her grounded and inspired. Personally she enjoys running (a casual marathoner), watching TV and drinking wine (I share the second two with her).
Her long-term career goal is to teach at a higher ed institution, which would be full circle from the start of her career in education. When I ask her why, she tells me she wants to be able to share her skills, successes and mistakes with those who are going to be teachers, administrators and ultimately system changers.She is a lifelong learner and nerd in academic settings, which also allow her to be part of cohorts. She would be in school forever if she could. She seeks the degrees as a way to learn more, and find her niche to move from generalist to specialist. Of course when you have a wide-ranging set of interests, one single path can feel scary but expertise is important. This is a theme that has emerged in several of my interviews.
In addition to her mother, she has had other influences in her life, including the women she works with at CPS. She talks about how their honesty about their struggles and flaws has helped her embrace her whole self. On the other hand, she has also had negative influences, particularly her advisor in her grad program who once asked her to help interpret an academic article written by a woman because she was a woman and seemingly “spoke the language.” Misogyny and racism aren’t dead.
While there are several things she could have done differently, everything she did led to her where she is today and she would not change that. She has also had the chance to create her own roles, which of course is a big factor in her satisfaction. I have no doubt she is going to be doing equally interesting and impactful things in her future.