Jeannie Oakes, Ph.D.

oakes@ucla.edu

Fellow for 2002 - 03: The Sudikoff Family Institute for Education & New Media
Presidential Professor in Educational Equity in the Department of Education at UCLA's Graduate School of Education & Information Studies
Director, UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA)
Director, UC All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity (ACCORD)

Professor Oakes served as the inaugural Fellow for Sudikoff Family Institute for Education & New Media. She is Presidential Professor in Educational Equity and Director of UCLA's Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA) and UC's All Campus Consortium on Research for Diversity (ACCORD). Dr. Oakes' research examines inequalities in U.S. schools, and follows the progress of equity-minded reform. During 2002 - 03 when Dr. Oakes served as the Sudikoff Family Institute fellow, her work addressed:

Tracking and Ability Grouping - Oakes' research explains how the common practice of placing students into different course tracks and ability groupings limits the school experiences of low-income students and students of color, many of whom are identified as "low" ability or "slow" learners. This work is the subject of Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality (Yale University Press, 1985). As an expert in school desegregation cases - Rockford, Illinois; San Jose, California and Wilmington, Delaware - Dr. Oakes documented how tracking created within-school segregation and inequalities in students' opportunities. Educational Matchmaking (1992) examines the interplay of race, social class, ability, and tracking practices in three comprehensive high schools.

Unequal Distribution of Resources and Opportunities for Education - Oakes' RAND study, Multiplying Inequalities (1990), documents the uneven distribution of resources, curriculum, and teachers in mathematics and science nationwide, and how it disproportionately burdens poor and minority students. Oakes has also studied Advanced Placement courses in California's schools and detailed changes that schools in low-income communities require if students are to be successful in advance academic programs.

Educators Working for Equity - Dr. Oakes 1999 book, Teaching To Change The World (with Martin Lipton) explores the educational foundations, values, and approaches to high-quality urban teaching. Oakes' recent research follows the progress of educators who are attempting to eliminate schooling inequalities and build more democratic school communities. This work is reported in her book, Becoming Good American Schools: The Struggle for Civic Virtue in Education Reform (2000) (with Karen Hunter Quartz, Steve Ryan, and Martin Lipton), which received an Outstanding Book Award from The American Educational Research Association.

During 1994 - 2000, Professor Oakes served as the founding director of UCLA's Center X - Where Research and Practice Intersect for Urban School Professionals. Oakes' research program at the Center investigated teacher development aimed at social justice for urban schools serving low-income students of color.

In 2002, Dr. Oakes was awarded the Jose Vasconcelos World Award of Education from The World Cultural Council. Oakes' awards also include the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Educational Press Association of America; three major awards from the American Educational Research Association, including an Early Career Award, Outstanding Research Article and Outstanding Book, and the National Association for Multicultural Education's Multicultural Research Award. She is also the recipient of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Ralph David Abernathy Award for Public Service.