Dr. Ellen Dollarhide McCoy

Ellen Dollarhide McCoy, Ph.D. is the associate director of the Center for Civics, Education and Opportunity at the Ronald Reagan Institute and leads the organization’s education policy efforts.

For more than fifteen years, Dr. McCoy has devoted her career to public education and has held leadership roles in the practice, policy and research arms of the sector. She began her career as an 8th grade English language arts teacher in Tulsa Public Schools. While pursuing her doctorate, she worked at the Oklahoma Center of Education Policy conducting research and co-authoring publications on school culture and climate. Later, Ellen served as the Executive Director of Research and Information at the Oklahoma State Department of Education. Ellen returned to secondary education as the Executive Director of one of Oklahoma’s oldest charter schools, overseeing a middle and high school and its expansion.

Dr. McCoy enjoys helping educators grow; she has previously served as an instructional faculty member at the University of Oklahoma and Southern Nazarene University. She currently serves as a school board member for Our Savior Lutheran School in Arlington, Virginia.

As the mother of a toddler, Ellen loves reading children’s books with her daughter and has somewhat improved her ability to assemble complicated baby gear. Though she and her husband have divergent tastes in music, they enjoy seeing live performances together. Ellen tries to travel to her hometown in central Illinois as much as possible.