Rachel Baker is an associate professor in the Policy, Organizations, Leadership, and Systems Division at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Baker studies issues in access to and success in higher education with a focus on students in broad-access institutions.

Professor Baker’s work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Education Sciences, the Spencer Foundation, and the College Futures Foundation. She serves on the editorial boards of Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, AERA Open, and Research in Higher Education and is an Affiliated Scholar at the Wheelhouse Center for Community College Leadership and Research.

Professor Baker was named a 2019 NAEd/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow for her work on curricular complexity in community colleges. She was selected as the 2016 Outstanding Fellow from the Institute of Education Sciences’ Predoctoral Interdisciplinary Research Training Programs in the Education Sciences and was awarded a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Dissertation Fellowship.

Research Interests and Current Projects

Professor Baker’s work has one main aim: to increase access, persistence, and success in higher education for traditionally underserved groups. Professor Baker approaches this broad goal through three related lines of research: (a) understanding how various policies affect how community college students make decisions about majors and transfer, (b) describing patterns of college enrollment by race and socio-economic status over time, and (c) measuring, and then intervening to enhance, students’ self-regulatory skills using interaction data from online classes.

Along with partners at three California community colleges, Professor Baker is currently leading a 5-year study funded by the National Science Foundation to examine the effects of cross-enrollment (facilitated enrollment in a university class while enrolled full-time at a community college) on academic aspirations and transfer success. She is also part of a research team examining the effects of instructor professional development on student success in online classes and is leading a group developing measures of curricular complexity in college major requirements.

Publications

Selected Publications

Morales-Gracia, M., Dorman, J., Park, E., Banuelos, M., Cabrera, J., Fagili, L., & Baker, R. B. (forthcoming). Policy in theory and policy in practice: Community college students' perceptions of cross-enrollment. Journal of Higher Education.

Fischer, C., Baker, R. B., Li, Q., Orona, G., & Warschauer, M. (forthcoming). Increasing success in higher education: The relationships of online course taking with college completion and time-to-degree. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.

Rutherford, T., Karamarkovich, S., Xu, D., Tate, T., Sato, B., Baker, R. B., & Warschauer, M. (2021). Profiles of responses to emergency distance learning. Online Learning, 25(1), 86–114.

Rivas, M., Baker, R. B., & Evans, B. (2020). Does a MOOC make you more marketable?: An experimental analysis of the value of MOOCs relative to professional experience and traditional higher education credentials. AERA Open, 6(4), 1–16.

Baker, R. B., & Orona, G. (2020). Gender and racial differences in awareness and consideration of curricular programs: Exploring a multi-stage model of major choice. AERA Open, 6(3), 1–19.

Fischer, C., Pardos, Z., Baker, R. S., Williams, J. J., Smyth, P., Yu, R., Slater, S., Baker, R. B., & Warschauer, M. (2020). Mining big data in education: Affordances and challenges. Review of Research in Education, 44(1), 130–160.

Fagioli, L., Baker, R. B., & Orona, G. (2020). The role of non-cognitive variables in identifying community college students in need of targeted supports. Research in Higher Education, 61, 725–763.

Li, Q., Baker, R. B., & Warschauer, M. (2020). Using clickstream data to measure self-regulated learning in online courses. The Internet and Higher Education, 45, 100727.

Baker, R. B., Xu, D., Park, J., Yu, R., Li, Q., Cung, B., Fischer, C., Rodriguez, F., Warschauer, M., & Smyth, P. (2020). The benefits and caveats of using clickstream data to understand student self-regulatory behaviors: Opening the black box of learning processes. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 17, 1–24.

Fesler, L., Dee, T., Baker, R. B., & Evans, B. (2019). Text as data methods for education research. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 12(4), 707–727.

Holzman, B., Klasik, D., & Baker, R. B. (2019). Gaps in the college application gauntlet. Research in Higher Education, 61(7), 795–822.

Bahr, P. R., Fagioli, L., Hetts, J., Hayward, C., Willett, T., Lamoree, D., Newell, M., Sorey, K., & Baker, R. B. (2019). Improving placement accuracy in California's community colleges using multiple measures of high school achievement. Community College Review, 47(2), 178–211.

Baker, R. B., Evans, B., Li, Q., & Cung, B. (2018). Does inducing students to schedule lecture watching in online classes improve their academic performance? An experimental analysis of a time management intervention. Research in Higher Education, 60(4), 521–552.

Li, Q., & Baker, R. B. (2018). The different relationships between engagement and outcomes across participant subgroups in massive online open courses. Computers and Education, 127, 41–65.

Baker, R. B., Bettinger, E., Jacob, B., & Marinescu, I. (2018). The effect of labor market information on community college students' major choice. Economics of Education Review, 65, 18–30.

Reardon, S.F., Baker, R. B., Kasman, M., Klasik, D. J., & Townsend, J. B. (2018). What levels of racial diversity can be achieved with socioeconomic- based affirmative action? Evidence from a simulation model. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 37(3), 630–657.

Baker, R. B., Klasik, D. J., & Reardon, S. F. (2018). Race and stratification in college enrollment over time. AERA Open, 4(1).

Baker, R. B. (2018). Understanding college students' major choice using social network analysis. Research in Higher Education, 59(2), 198–225.

Baker, R. B., Evans, B., & Dee, T. (2016). A randomized experiment testing the efficacy of a scheduling nudge in a massive open online course (MOOC). AERA Open, 2(4).

Baker, R. B. (2016). The effects of structured transfer pathways in community colleges. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 38(4), 626–646.

Reardon, S. F., Kasman, M., Klasik, D. J., & Baker, R. B. (2016). Agent-based simulation models of the college sorting process. Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 19(1), 8.

Evans, B. J., Baker, R. B., & Dee, T. (2016). Persistence patterns in massive open online classes (MOOCs). Journal of Higher Education, 87(2), 206–242.

Bettinger, E. P., & Baker, R. B. (2014). The effects of student coaching: An evaluation of a randomized experiment in student advising. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 36(1), 3–19.

News & Media

Penn GSE News

Celebration of Educators 2024 explores the economics of education and honors alumni

Penn GSE’s annual Alumni Weekend event featured a faculty panel discussion on “The Price of Education” and celebrated the winners of the Education Alumni Awards.

June 11, 2024

Breaking the Pipeline: Rachel Baker helps challenge a traditional education metaphor in Science magazine

In a major study published today, Baker and fellow researchers argue that replacing “pipeline” with “pathway” is a better metaphor and will unlock new insights and improve higher education.

April 27, 2023

Removing Hurdles in Higher Education: Penn GSE Welcomes Rachel Baker

Penn GSE’s newest associate professor on “curricular complexity,” how too many choices can overwhelm students, and the human stories behind big data.

January 25, 2022

Journal Editorial Boards

Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness

Associate Editor

Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis

Editorial Board

Research in Higher Education

Consulting Editor