Dr. Rachel Baker

Biography

Rachel Baker is an Associate Professor in the Policy, Organizations, Leadership, and Systems Division at the Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on issues of access and success in higher education, particularly for students at broad-access institutions. Baker's work is funded by prestigious organizations such as the National Science Foundation and the Institute of Education Sciences. She serves on the editorial boards of several notable journals, including Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis and AERA Open. Baker was named a 2019 NAEd/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and has received various fellowships, including the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Dissertation Fellowship. Her areas of expertise include college access, pathways to college, college success and persistence, and community colleges, utilizing experimental and quasi-experimental designs for policy analysis. She is currently leading a five-year study funded by the National Science Foundation to examine the effects of cross-enrollment on community college students' academic aspirations and transfer success. Baker has published extensively on topics related to higher education, contributing to an understanding of policies that impact community college students and their decision-making processes.

Research Interests