Emily Germain is a potdoctoal fellow at the Learning Policy Institute. She earned her B.A. in American Studies from Barnard College and an M.A. in the Teaching of Social Studies from Teachers College. Prior to attending UT Austin, she taught history and English for six years at a public school in the Bronx and a charter school in Austin. Her dissertation investigates two inter-related lines of inquiry: 1) how market-centric models of education interplay with goals of increased equity in urban school districts, and 2) the socio-political economy of urban development and schools. Her broader research focuses on issues with critical implications for equity of opportunity and community development for historically marginalized populations. Specifically, she studies the workings of recent market-based reforms in education and their implications for equity; the sociocultural contexts and political economy of education; the relationship between community agency and improving life outcomes for low-income students and families; geography, equity, and opportunity; and sustainable, inclusive development.

While at UT she received a number of fellowships including the College of Education Graduate Continuing Fellowship, the University of Texas Graduate Continuing Fellowship, the Teresa Lozano Long Endowed Graduate Fellowship, and the Ed Centennial EPS Fellowship. Her work appears in Education Policy Analysis Archives, Educational Researcher, Urban Review, and the Texas Education Review of which she was formerly a board member and managing editor. Emily is an adjunct professor of social studies and has served as a research assistant, teaching assistant, and intern at the Texas Capitol.