Robert Cooper is Associate Professor of Education at UCLA. He also serves as co-faculty Director of the UCLA Principal Leadership Institute and is the Director of California Academic Partnership Leadership Network. Professor Cooper has spent the last three decades teaching and researching issues of educational access, equity, and segregation in America’s public schooling system. His research and scholarship are conceptually and analytically linked to his interests in public policy and civic engagement, in that he seeks to identify effective policies and practices that lead to both excellence and equity in public education. As an urban sociologist of education, he has published a number of articles, book chapters, and policy reports.

Active in his community, Dr. Cooper serves as the Pastor at Berean Baptist Family Fellowship of Valencia and recently ran for the 25th congressional sit vacated by Katie Hill.