Meredith Phillips

Meredith Phillips is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), jointly appointed in the Luskin School of Public Affairs (Public Policy) and the Department of Sociology. Her work focuses on reducing educational inequality, particularly ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in academic success. She co-founded EdBoost, a nonprofit providing accessible educational services, and serves as a research advisor to the Los Angeles Education Research Institute (LAERI), fostering evidence-based education policy.

Educations:

• Ph.D. in Sociology, Northwestern University
• M.A. in Human Development & Social Policy, Northwestern University
• A.B. in Human Biology and Spanish Literature, Brown University

Research Interests: Phillips examines structural barriers to educational equity, including summer learning gaps, college access interventions, and the role of family and school environments. She emphasizes practical solutions like EdBoost’s evidence-based curriculum and LAERI’s district partnerships. Recent work explores math course-taking’s impact on college success and virtual advising’s role in enrollment equity.

Awards & Grants:

• National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (2000–2002)
• APPAM Best Dissertation Award (1998–1999)
• Funded projects include U.S. Department of Education grants on academic achievement and Mellon Foundation studies on diverse universities.

Advising & Grants: Phillips advises LAERI’s district collaborations and has led randomized trials evaluating college access programs. Her grants focus on equity mechanisms in STEM education and longitudinal studies of adolescent trajectories.

Labs & Teams: Active in UCLA’s sociology and public policy departments, Phillips collaborates with LAUSD on surveys and interventions. EdBoost’s lab develops scalable educational tools rigorously tested for cost-effectiveness.