Emily K. Penner

Dr. Emily K. Penner is an associate professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine. She is a William T. Grant Scholar and was formerly a Jacobs Foundation Young Scholar and National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow. Her research focuses on educational inequality and policy, and considers the ways that districts, schools, teachers, and parents can contribute to or ameliorate educational inequality. Penner is working on projects that examine teacher recruitment and retention in constrained labor and housing markets; how school sorting processes affect student opportunities to learn; and how educator-initiated curricula that center the cultural and historical experiences of traditionally marginalized students impact student outcomes. Penner received her PhD and MA in education from the University of California, Irvine.

updated 2025