Kevin Gee

kgee
Kevin Gee
Professor and Chancellor’s Fellow, School of Education,
University of California, Davis

Kevin Gee is a professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Davis, where he directs the School Policy, Research, and Action (SPARC) Center and is a faculty research affiliate with the Center for Poverty & Inequality Research. A 2020–25 Chancellor’s Fellow, his research focuses on students who are persistently underserved in education policy, particularly youth facing chronic absenteeism, bullying, food insecurity, abuse, and neglect. He examines how structural adversities impact children’s academic and socioemotional well-being and how school policies can address inequities. His work has been published in Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Pediatrics, Teachers College Record, Journal of Adolescent Health, and Journal of Adolescence and featured in The New York Times, Scientific American, and Education Week. He was awarded a National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship and a UC Davis Hellman Fellowship. Gee earned his MPIA from the University of California, San Diego, and a PhD in quantitative policy analysis in education from Harvard University.

updated 2025

Contributing topics
College access & postsecondary success
Continuous school improvement & support
Education finance
Educational governance & policy
Educator workforce & effectiveness
Supporting students’ social-emotional, mental & physical health
Understanding, measuring & improving student outcomes
Contributing initiatives
Continuous Improvement and Support Systems in California
CORE-PACE Research Partnership
COVID-19 Recovery
LCFF Research Collaborative
Organizing Schools to Serve Students with Disabilities
Commentary by Kevin Gee
: Chronic Absenteeism Post-Pandemic: Let’s Not Make This Our “New Normal”
Kevin Gee in the Media
: Education Experts Break Down the Lingering Impacts and Unexpected Outcomes of COVID-19 Pandemic
: Two Dozen Views on LCFF: Is California’s Funding Law Working and What Could Improve It?
: Disparities in ‘Unexcused’ Absences Deepen Education Inequities
: Some Students Are Less Likely to Have Absences Excused. Why That Matters for Schools
: How do 'Unexcused' Absences Disrupt Efforts to Improve Attendance?
Publications by Kevin Gee
Disparities in Unexcused Absences Across California Schools
Disparities in Unexcused Absences Across California Schools
This report finds that improving school attendance is crucial, especially with the increase in chronic absence. Data on unexcused absences should be used to create a more preventive, problem-solving, and equitable response to poor attendance.…
Brief Cover
Multi-Tiered System of Supports to Address Childhood Trauma
Evidence and Implications
This brief summarizes the current evidence base on multi-tiered trauma-informed practices in schools to prevent, assess, and address trauma in students. Although the effectiveness of trauma-informed approaches is limited, the most compelling…
PB Cottingham July 2020
Supporting Learning in the COVID-19 Context
Research to Guide Distance and Blended Instruction
This suite of publications provides 10 recommendations based on the PACE report to help educators and district leaders provide high-quality instruction through distance and blended learning models in the 2020-21 school year. Despite the challenges…
Policy Brief Gee February 2020
Students with Disabilities in the CORE Districts
Characteristics, Outcomes, and Transitions
The CORE districts studied characteristics, outcomes, and transitions of students with disabilities (SWDs). Specific learning disability was the most common type. Males, African Americans, English learners, and foster youth were overrepresented.…