Emily Penner

Current Position: 

Assistant Professor, University of California, Irvine

Emily K. Penner was a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Stanford School of Education and Center for Education Policy Analysis. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Irvine (2014) with a specialization in Education Policy and Social Context, and her B.A. in Economics and International Relations from Claremont McKenna College (2005). Her research focuses on educational inequality, and how parents, teachers, schools, and peers shape students’ educational opportunities. Her dissertation examined the effects of Teach For America on student achievement, documenting variation in the impact of Teach For America across the distribution of student achievement, subject areas, developmental stages, baseline proficiency, and as the organization has evolved over time. She has also conducted research on parenting interventions, peer effects, district mathematics policies, vouchers, and the quality of teacher effectiveness measures. Prior to entering the PhD program at UC Irvine, Emily was an elementary classroom teacher, an English language development coordinator, and reading intervention specialist in Oakland and Vista, California.