Laurel Sipes

Laurel Sipes is a senior research associate at the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University. She is a qualitative researcher whose work focuses on equitable access to quality educational and out-of-school experiences at the TK–12 and postsecondary levels. Her research includes studies of effective models of support for first-generation college students in California; community-based approaches to supporting high school students participating in dual enrollment courses; and school district implementation of English Learner reclassification policies. She is also cocreator and facilitator of the Gardner Center's Youth Action Research Fellowship. Sipes received her MPP from the University of California, Berkeley.

updated 2026