Kevin Gee

Dr. Kevin Gee is a Professor in the School of Education (School Organization & Educational Policy emphasis area) and Director of the School Policy, Research, and Action (SPARC) Center. He is also a Faculty Research Affiliate with the Center for Poverty & Inequality Research. He is currently a 2020-25 Chancellor’s Fellow. He was a recipient of the 2015 National Academy of Education (NAEd)/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship, a 2014 Young Scholars Program (YSP) award from the Foundation for Child Development (FCD) and a 2015-6 UC Davis Hellman Fellowship. Dr. Gee situates one primary aim at the forefront of his research agenda—to generate rigorous and data-informed insights about students who are persistently underserved and overlooked in the broader educational policy landscape. In particular, he focuses on youth who face structural adversities and inequities in and out of school, including children who are vulnerable to chronic absenteeism, bullying, food insecurity, abuse, and neglect. Importantly, he asks policy-relevant questions critical to understanding: (1) how structural adversities and inequities influence children’s academic and socioemotional wellbeing; and (2) how school policies, systems and practices can be reimagined to overcome societal and structural inequities so that students can thrive. Methodologically, he uses rigorous quantitative approaches, including Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM), longitudinal methods, and experimental and quasi-experimental designs. Given the interdisciplinary nature of his research, he grounds his work theoretically and empirically in education, human development, public policy, and child welfare. Dr. Gee’s research appears in Early Childhood Research Quarterly, Pediatrics, Teachers College Record, Journal of Adolescent Health, Journal of Adolescence and the International Journal of Educational Development. His work has also been featured in The New York Times, Scientific American, Reuters and Education Week. Dr. Gee hails from California and received his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and his Master’s degree from UC San Diego. He received his doctorate in Quantitative Policy Analysis in Education from Harvard University in 2010. From 2010-2012 he held a faculty appointment as Lecturer in Public Policy at Brown University and in 2012 he received the Outstanding Professor Award from the Brown University Undergraduate Council of Students.