Molly F. Gordon is a Senior Principal Researcher at the Learning Policy Institute. Her work focuses on the educator workforce including educator preparation and development, identification, recruitment, hiring, and retention in the field. Gordon has extensive experience examining the impacts of education policies and initiatives on students and schools, family and community engagement, as well as early childhood education.

Prior to joining LPI, Gordon was a Senior Research Scientist at NORC at the University of Chicago where she served as the principal investigator (PI) on an IES study examining the principal pipeline in Chicago and across the state of Tennessee. Prior to that, Gordon was a Research Scientist at the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research where she studied the impacts of mass school closures in Chicago on students and staff.

She holds a PhD in Education Policy and Administration from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. She received her BA in Philosophy and an MA in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.