Rate My Professor Jaekyung Lee

Jaekyung Lee is a UB Distinguished Professor and Professor in the Departments of Counseling, School and Educational Psychology and Educational Leadership and Policy at the Graduate School of Education, University at Buffalo, SUNY. He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago. Previously, he served as Dean of the Graduate School of Education. Lee specializes in educational policy research, assessment and evaluation with a focus on educational equity and accountability. His research interests include big data, access and equity, international education, large-scale assessment, leadership, STEM education, higher education, race, inequality and education, social justice, psychometrics, quantitative research methods, program evaluation, and social and emotional development. He is an advocate for whole-child and youth development and universal learning rights, aiming to improve evidence-based policies and practices to close inequalities in educational opportunities and achievement and well-being gaps among disadvantaged and marginalized students worldwide.

Lee has authored key books 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). His recent publications include 'Do Community Schools Work for High-Needs Students? Evaluating Integrated Student Support Services and Outcomes for Equity' (Education Sciences, 2025, with Y. S. Seo et al.), 'The Equity Implications of School Principal Evaluation for Student Achievement: A Critical Quantitative Policy Analysis' (Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 2025, with S. T. Jang), and 'What High-Impact Practices Work for Minoritized Students? Institutional Inequities in College Learning Opportunities and Outcomes' (Trends in Higher Education, 2024, with N. Kim et al.). He has over 100 scholarly outputs in leading journals such as Educational Researcher, American Educational Research Journal, Review of Educational Research, and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, along with policy reports like 'Tracking Achievement Gaps and Assessing the Impact of NCLB on the Gaps' (Harvard University Civil Rights Project, 2006). Awards include the UB Exceptional Scholar of Sustained Achievement Award (2024), Fulbright Global Scholar Award (2020), World Education Research Association and International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement Visiting Researcher Award (2024), Richard P. Nathan Public Policy Fellowship (2018), and Robert W. Heller Award (2015). He is a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association and National Education Policy Center, and former Fellow of Stanford University Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Lee serves as Chair of the AERA International Relations Committee (2023-2026), Consulting Editor of Educational Psychology: An International Journal of Experimental Educational Psychology (2020-2025), and Editorial Board Member for KEDI Journal of Educational Policy and Education Policy Analysis Archives. He is Co-PI of the National Center for Early Literacy and Responsible AI, funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, and has secured grants from the National Science Foundation and others.