Erica Frankenberg

Erica Frankenberg is Professor of Education and Demography in the College of Education at Pennsylvania State University, where she also holds an affiliate appointment at Penn State Law. She serves as Associate Director of Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute and as founding director of the Center for Education and Civil Rights.

Education:

• Ed.D. in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy-Research, Harvard University
• M.Ed. in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy, Harvard University
• A.B. in Education Policy, Dartmouth College

Her scholarship centers on K-12 racial desegregation and the links between school segregation and metropolitan policies such as housing, transportation, and health. Recent projects examine how attendance-zone boundaries, charter-school choice, and suburban demographic change shape patterns of segregation and inequality. She brings mixed-methods approaches to policy design and implementation, with an emphasis on sustaining equitable outcomes in diverse contexts.

Across more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and five co-edited books, her work has traced persistent segregation trends, evaluated voluntary integration initiatives, and informed landmark Supreme Court cases. Funding sources include the National Science Foundation, Spencer Foundation, and W.T. Grant Foundation.

Scientific Awards & Honors:

• Fellow, National Education Policy Center
• Research cited in U.S. Supreme Court decisions on voluntary integration
• Co-authored social-science statement on benefits of integrated schools signed by 500+ scholars

Grants & Advising:

• Principal investigator on NSF, Spencer, and WT Grant grants examining segregation, choice policy, and suburban change
• Expert witness in >12 federal desegregation cases for U.S. DOJ and NAACP Legal Defense Fund
• Advisor to Pennsylvania Educational Equity Project student research group

She teaches doctoral courses on education policy and politics, civil rights and education, and federal education policy, and has convened stakeholders at Congressional briefings and U.S. Department of Education convenings to translate research into actionable integration policy.