Jaekyung Lee

Jaekyung Lee, (University of Chicago, PhD), is a professor of education at the University at Buffalo. A fellow of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) and a Fulbright Global Scholar, Lee is an internationally recognized leader in educational policy research and evaluation on the issues of school accountability and equity. His research is aimed at improving evidence-based policy towards holistic and equitable education and closing the opportunity/ achievement gaps among diverse racial and social groups of students. He specializes in critical quantitative methods and secondary analysis of large-scale national/international education assessment data. Lee is the author/editor of several books on this topic, including "The Anatomy of Achievement Gaps: Why and How American Education is Losing (But Can Still Win) the War on Underachievement" (Oxford University Press, 2016) and "Centering Whole-Child Development in Global Education Reform: International Perspectives on Agendas for Educational Equity and Quality" (Routledge, 2022).

• PhD, University of Chicago

• Fulbright Global Scholar Award; The US State Department Fulbright Program; 2020-04-09;
• Distinguished Researcher Award; Korean-American Educational Researchers Association (KAERA); 2020-03-20;
• Richard P. Nathan Public Policy Fellowship (2018); The Rockefeller Institute of Government; 2018-01-01;
• Robert W. Heller Award; Western New York Educational Service Council; 2015-10-01;
• Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS), Stanford University (2009); CASBS, Stanford University; 2009-09-01;

• HELP (Health-Education-Life Protection) for At-Risk Children in Disaster-Affected Nations; Local; UB Office of International Education; Awarded; (06/01/2023-05/31/2025)
• HELP (Health-Education-Life Protection) for Pandemic-affected Minority Children: Cross-state and Cross-sector Investigations of Systemic Racial Inequalities; Local; UB Graduate School of Education; Awarded; (04/10/2023-04/09/2025)
• Academic and Sociocultural Readiness for Postgraduate Education among Immigrant and International Students: Promoting Equal Access and Success in Graduate/Professional Schools; Foundation and Research Organization; Access/Lex Institute and the Association for Institutional Research; Awarded; (03/01/2019-05/31/2020)

• Lee, J. (2016). The Anatomy of Achievement Gaps: Why and How American Education is Losing (but can still Win) the War on Underachievement. New York: Oxford University Press.

• Lee, J. & Wong, K. (Eds.) (2022). Centering Whole-Child Development in Global Education Reform: International Perspectives on Agendas for Educational Equity and Quality. New York: Routledge.

• Su, M. & Lee, J. (2022). Eastern versus Western gaps in whole child education: how school climate works for academic achievement and well being across China, Korea, Finland, and the United States. Educational Research for Policy and Practice. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10671-022-09322-3.
• Kim, T. & Lee, J. (2021). Measuring teacher effectiveness for equity: value-added model of teachers’ distributive effects on classroom achievement gaps. Educational Research and Evaluation. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13803611.2021.1906708
• Kim, T. & Lee, J. (2021). Measuring teacher effectiveness for equity: value-added model of teachers’ distributive effects on classroom achievement gaps. Educational Research and Evaluation. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13803611.2021.1906708
• Lee, J., & Jaeger, J. (2021). Synthetic Longitudinal Education Database: Linking National Datasets for K-16 Education and College Readiness. International Journal of Educational Methodology, 7(4), 683-696. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12973/ijem.7.4.683
• Lee, J., Kim, N., & Su, M. (2021). Immigrant and International College Students’ Learning Gaps: Improving Academic and Sociocultural Readiness for Career and Graduate/Professional Education. International Journal of Educational Research Open. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2021.100047
• Lee, J., Kim, T., & Su, M. (2021). Reassessing School Effectiveness: Multi-objective Value-added Measures (MOVAM) of Academic and Socioemotional Learning. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 68. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2020.100972
• Lee, J. (2020). What’s Missing from the Nation’s Report Card. Phi Delta Kappan [Online] https://kappanonline.org/whats-missing-nations-report-card-health-lee.
• Lee, J., & Kim, N. (2020). Small frog in a big pond vs. big frog in a small pond: Actual vs. perceived achievement gaps among Korean, Korean-American and American students. KEDI Journal of Education Policy, 17(1), 125-143.
• Lee, J. & Lee, M. (2020). Is 'Whole Child' Education Obsolete? Public School Principals' Educational Goal Priorities in the Era of Accountability. Educational Administration Quarterly. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0013161X20909871.
• Lee, J., Liu, K., & Wu, Y. (2020). Does the Asian Catch-up Model of World-Class Universities Work? Revisiting the Zero-Sum Game of Global University Rankings and Government Policies. Educational Research for Policy and Practice. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10671-020-09261-x
• Lee, J. & Kang, C. S. (2019). A litmus test of school accountability policy effects in Korea: cross-validating high-stakes test results for academic excellence and equity. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, DOI: 10.1080/02188791.2019.1598851
• Lee, J., Kim, N., & Wu, Y. (2018). College Readiness and Engagement Gaps between Domestic and International Students: Re-envisioning Educational Diversity and Equity for Global Campus. Higher Education. DOI: 10.1007/s10734-018-0284-8
• Lee, J., Finn, J. & Liu, X. (2018). Time-Indexed Effect Size for Educational Research and Evaluation. Journal of Experimental Education. DOI: 10.1080/00220973.2017.1409183
• Collins, J. L., Lee, J., Fox, J. D., & Madigan, T. P. (2017). Bringing Together Reading and Writing: An Experimental Study of Writing Intensive Reading Comprehension (WIRC) in Low-Performing Urban Elementary Schools. Reading Research Quarterly. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rrq.175
• Lee, J., & Wu, Y. (2017). Is the Common Core Racing America to the Top? Tracking changes in state standards, school practices, and student achievement. Education Policy Analysis Archives. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.25.2834.
• Lee, J., Weis, L., Liu, K., & Kang, C. (2017). Which Type of High School Maximizes Students' College Match? Unequal Pathways to Postsecondary Destinations for Students from Varying High School Settings. The Journal of Higher Education. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2016.1272327
• Lee, J., Kim, Y., & Shin, H. (2016). Hak-ryeok-gyeok-cha-eu Byeon-hwa-chu-seo-wa Hae-so-bang-an [A study on Korea national achievement gap trends and remedial measures.]. Han-kuk-kyo-yuk [Journal of Korean Education, 43(1), 261-286].
• Lee, J. & D. Park (2014). Do American and Korean education systems converge? Tracking school reform policies and outcomes in Korea and the USA. Asia Pacific Education Review, 15(3), 391-399.

• Lee, J. & Su, M. (2022). Re-envisioning American Education Reform: How and Why Whole Community Environment Matters for Whole Child Development. In Lee, J. & Wong, K. (Eds.) (2022). Centering Whole-Child Development in Global Education Reform: International Perspectives on Agendas for Educational Equity and Quality. New York: Routledge.
• Lee, J., Lamb, R. & Kim, S. (2021). Artificial Intelligence and Learning. In A. Hynds (Ed.) Oxford Bibliographies in Education. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199756810-0269
• Lee, J. & Amo, L. (2016). International and Interstate Analyses of Student- and School-Targeted Accountability Policy Effects. (pp. 3-22) In Sharpes, D. (Ed.). Handbook on Comparative and International Studies in Education. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
• Lee, J. (2015). Educational Testing: Measuring and Remedying Achievement Gaps. In R. Scott & S. Kosslyn (Eds.) Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.

• Choi, J. & Lee, J. (2016). Review of “The Next Generation of Testing: Common Core Standards, Smarter-Balanced, PARCC, and the Nationwide Testing Movement.” Teachers College Record [Online]. Available: http://www.tcrecord.org

• Lee, J. (2019). NEPC Review: “The Effects of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program on College Enrollment and Graduation: An Update.” Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center. Retrieved [date] from http://nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/tax-credit.
• Lee, J., Kim, N., Cobanoglu, A., & O’Connor, M. (2019). Moving to educational accountability system 2.0: Socioemotional learning standards and protective environment for whole child development. Education Policy Report. Albany, NY: The Rockefeller Institute of the Government.

• Lee, J. (2023, May). East Meets West in Education: Has Korea Become More Like the US and Vice Versa? Nazarbayev University Korean Studies Seminar. Astana, Kazakhstan.;
• Lee, J. (2023, May). Transforming Lives through Education: Critical Lessons from South Korea and New Pathways to Realize Asian Dreams. Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education Seminar. Astana, Kazakhstan.;
• Lee, J. (2022, April). Race-Blind or Race-Conscious? Critical Quantitative Research for Educational Equity. Korean-American Education Researcher Association Virtual Conference Keynote Speech.;
• Lee, J. (2022, March). Race-Blind or Race-Conscious? Critical Quantitative Research for Educational Equity. Boston College Lynch School of Education Faculty Speaker Series. Boston, Massachusetts. https://vimeo.com/690509726/2a46f8a0aa;
• Lee, J. (2018, August). For whom the school bell rings: The case for closing educational inequalities and achievement gaps. The University of Canberra Distinguished International Scholar’s Seminar. Canberra, Australia.;

• Lee, J. & Su, M. (2023, April). Re-envisioning American Education Reform: How and Why Whole Community Environment Matters for Whole Child Development. Symposium Paper presented at the 2023 annual meeting of American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago.;
• Lee, J., Cobanoglu, A., & Anderson, A. (2023, April). What Works For (or Against) Whom, Why and How? Towards Critical Race-Conscious Education Policy/Program Evaluation for Equity. Paper presented at the 2023 annual meeting of American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago.;
• Lee, J., Saultz, A., & Vasquez, J. (2023, April). State Accountability Systems. Symposium “Future of Measurement and Accountability” Opinion Essay presented at the 2023 annual meeting of American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago.;
• Lee, J. & Jaeger, J. (2021, April). Synthetic National Longitudinal Education Data: A Pilot Study of K-16 Education + Career Pathways. Poster presented at the 2021 annual meeting of American Educational Research Association (AERA), virtual conference.;
• Lee, J., Kim, N., & Su, M. (2021, April). Do High-Impact Practices Work for College Success? Mixed-Methods Research on Academic and Sociocultural Learning Inequalities. Paper presented at the 2021 annual meeting of American Educational Research Association (AERA), virtual conference.;
• Su, M. & Lee, J. (2021, April). Whole-Child Education: China, Korea, Finland, and U.S. Students' Academic Achievement and Socio-Emotional Well-Being. Paper presented at the 2021 annual meeting of American Educational Research Association (AERA), virtual conference.;
• Lee, J. & Kim, T. (2019, April). Are Schools Effective for Whole Child Development? Multi-objective Value-added Model (MOVAM) of School Effects on Academic and Socioemotional Learning, Paper presented at the 2019 annual meeting of American Educational Research Association (AERA), Toronto, Canada.;
• Lee, J., Kim, N., & Wu, Y. (2018, April). College Readiness and Engagement Gaps between Domestic and International Students: Re-envisioning Educational Diversity and Equity for Global Campus. Paper presented at the 2018 annual meeting of American Educational Research Association (AERA), New York, New Work.;
• Lee, J. & Kang, C. (2017, April). Korean Way of “No Child Left Behind”: A Comparative Study of Accountability Policy Impact on Educational Inequalities and Achievement Gaps. Paper presented at the 2017 annual meeting of American Educational Research Association (AERA), San Antonio, Texas.;
• Lee, J. & Wu, Y. (2017, April). Is the Common Core Racing America to the Top? Tracking changes in state standards, school practices, and student achievement. Paper presented at the 2017 annual meeting of American Educational Research Association (AERA), San Antonio, Texas.;
• Lee, J. & Kim, N. (2016, April). Small Frog in a Big Pond vs. Big Frog in a Small Pond: Comparing Actual and Perceived Math Achievement Gaps among Korean, Korean-American Immigrant and Korean-American Native Students. Paper presented at the 2016 annual meeting of World Educational Research Association (WERA), Washington, DC.;
• Lee, J. & Liu, K. (2015, April). Is High School-College Pipeline Working or Broken under NCLB Accountability System? Comparative Interrupted Time-series Analyses of High School Graduation and College Enrollment Trends. Paper presented at the 2015 annual meeting of American Educational Research Association (AERA), Chicago.;

• Consulting Editor of Educational Psychology: An International Journal of Experimental Educational Psychology
  04/29/2020-03/31/2025
• Editorial Board Member, Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI) Journal of Educational Policy, 2009 – Present
  01/01/2009-12/31/2023
• Editorial Board Member, Education Policy Analysis Archives, 2007 – Present
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• Editorial Board Member, Journal of Research in Rural Education, 1998 – Present
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• Editorial Board Member, American Educational Research Journal (Social and Institutional Analysis Section), 2014 - 2017
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• Fulbright U.S. National Screening Committee Member for English Teacher Assistantship Program, 2021 - Present
  09/01/2021-08/31/2024