McDonald’s research interests include homeschooling and alternatives to school, self‐directed learning, education entrepreneurship and innovation, parent empowerment, school choice, and family and child policy. Her articles have appeared at The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, Newsweek, NPR, Washington Examiner, Education Next, Reason, City Journal, Entrepreneur, and the Journal of School Choice, among others.
McDonald has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Bowdoin College and a master’s degree in education policy from Harvard University. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and four children.