Molly McManus
( She/Her/Hers )Molly E. McManus began her career in education as a bilingual early elementary school teacher in Oakland and San Francisco. In the classroom, she developed a deep respect for the sophisticated knowledge and capabilities that young Latinx children from immigrant families demonstrate when offered culturally sustaining, agentic learning opportunities. Molly earned her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship with the Agency and Young Children Research Collective at the University of Texas at Austin. Her scholarship centers the perspectives of young children of color and focuses on the cultural nature of learning and development. Originally from the Bay Area, Molly is thrilled to be part of the CAD faculty at SF State working alongside children, families, and educators towards more equitable early childhood education for marginalized communities.
Educational Background
Agency and Young Children Research Collective Post-Doctoral Fellowship
Ph.D. Educational Psychology, University of Texas at Austin
M.A. Educational Psychology, University of Texas at Austin
B.S. Liberal Studies, California Polytechnic State University
Selected Publications
Payne, K.A., Adair, J.K., Falkner, A., Lee, S., McManus, M.E., Colegrove, K.S.S. & Sachdeva, S. (2025). Child-focused civics: Seeing civic action in young children’s everyday interactions. Theory & Research in Social Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2025.2522112
McManus, M.E., Colegrove, K.S.S. & Adair, J.K. (2025). “Some of us don’t like the chaos”: Comparing Latine immigrant parents’ and early childhood teachers’ discourses of control in the classroom. Latinos and Education, 24(4), 808-822. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2025.2522112
Adair, J.K., Park, S., Alonzo, M., McManus, M.E., Odim, N., Lee, S., Jones, N.N., Payne, K.A., Colegrove, K.S.S., (2024). Equitable access to agency-supportive early schooling contexts for young children of color. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 69 (4), 49-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2024.06.003
McManus, M.E. & Colegrove, K.S.S. (2023) Can I help you? Supporting equity, learning, and development by allowing children to help out. Young Children, 78(3), 6-13.
Colegrove, K.S.S., McManus, M. E., Adair, J.K. & Payne, K. (2023) ¡Los policías!: Latinx children’s agency in highly-regulated early childhood contexts. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 24(4), 453-467. https://doi.org/10.1177/14639491211021
McManus, M.E. (2022) “Breathe and be ready to learn”: The issue with social-emotional learning programs as classroom management. Invited special issue: Perspectives on Early Childhood Psychology and Education, 6(1), 175-207. https://doi.org/10.58948/2834-8257.1006
McManus, M.E., Payne, K., Lee, S., Sachdeva, S., Falkner, A., Colegrove, K.S.S. & Adair, J. K. (2019). Expanding video-cued multivocal ethnography for activist research in the Civic Action and Learning with Young Children study. Anthropology and Education, 50(3), 348-355.
Adair, J.K., Colegrove, K.S.S. & McManus, M.E. (2018). Troubling messages: Agency and learning in the early schooling experiences of children of Latina/o immigrants. Teachers College Record, 120(6), 1-40.
Adair, J.K., Colegrove, K.S.S. & McManus, M.E. (2017). How the ‘Word Gap’ argument negatively impacts young children of Latinx immigrants’ conceptualizations of learning. Harvard Educational Review. 87(3), 309-334.