Susan Jean (Shay) Mayer is a developmental learning and curricular theorist who writes on a range of issues related to democratic K-12 practice, social science method, and the study of learning within schools. She holds a B.A. from Antioch College and an Ed.M. and Ed.D from Harvard University. Mayer’s 2012 book, Classroom Discourse and Democracy: Making Meanings Together, employs classroom discourse analysis in order to characterize and theorize distinctively democratic discourse features. An edited volume in press discusses the value of the pedagogical approach Critical Exploration in the Classroom for advancing research-based and equity-oriented understandings and practices within teacher education programs.

Mayer has taught in teacher education programs at Brandeis and Northeastern Universities and worked in secondary textbook production as a senior designer. She was a founding member of Critical Explorers, a non-profit that conducts curricular research and design residencies (criticalexplorers.org) and is a founding partner of Critical Exploration Press LLC (cepress.org). Her board work has included work in juvenile justice (youthadvocacyfoundation.org) as well as her service on the Antioch College board. Mayer also co-edits the online Journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies.