Lillian Ryan is a senior from the Southside of Chicago, Illinois studying philosophy, Spanish, and education, schooling, and society. Ryan has worked with Professor TJ D'Agostino since her sophomore year, and she has primarily supported qualitative data analysis, writing, and editing for Prof. D'Agostino and Notre Dame's collaboration with USAID on the Language of Instruction Transition in Education Systems (LITES) study investigating the efficacy of and support for language of instruction transition policy in Rwanda, Mali, Kenya, Senegal, and the Philippines.
Ryan studied abroad in Toledo, Spain in the Spring of 2024 where she interned as an English teaching assistant, and on the Notre Dame campus Ryan founded and facilitates a science program for preschool and early elementary school aged children of Notre Dame students. Ryan also created a research partnership between Notre Dame and South Bend's Portage School of Leaders where students in Notre Dame's Student Policy Network investigate how to best advocate for policy that supports the Portage School's Competency Based Education approach. Ryan currently serves as a Teach for America Ignite Fellow and provides high-dosage phonics tutoring to 4th grade students for whom Spanish is the home language. Ryan's forthcoming thesis will investigate how recent changes in Indiana IREAD-3 laws impact pedagogical choices made by Indiana English as a New Language educators. Ryan plans to continue her career in education after graduating from Notre Dame by building an ever deeper understanding of education systems as a classroom teacher before pursuing her Master’s in Education and a role in school leadership.
Thesis Title: From Policy to Practice: The Adaptation of ELL Policy in Indiana in the Wake of IREAD-3 Changes
Thesis Adviser: Joe Waddington