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Andrew Penner

@andrewpenner.bsky.social

Professor of Sociology and administrative data infrastructure enthusiast at UC Irvine. My book (Schooled & Sorted) examines the role of categorization in education and how we can create more egalitarian categories.

165 Followers  |  85 Following  |  31 Posts  |  Joined: 20.09.2023  |  2.114

Latest posts by andrewpenner.bsky.social on Bluesky

Black text on a yellow background - This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the time of her passing.
Hi everyone, it looks like I ran out of time. I have so many dreams that I wanted to fulfill and plans to create new stories for you. There are a few in progress that might come to fruition in a few years if things work out. I did not ever imagine I would live to this age and end up a writer, editor, activist, and more. As a kid riddled with insecurity and internalized ableism, I could not see a path forward. It was thanks to friendships and some great teachers who believed in me that I was able to fight my way out of miserable situations into a place where I finally felt comfortable in my skin.
We need more stories about us and our culture.
You all, we all, deserve the everything and more in such a hostile, ableist environment. Our wisdom is incisive and unflinching. I'm honored to be your ancestor and believe disabled oracles like us will light the way to the future. Don't let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.

Black text on a yellow background - This is Alice's friend Sandy Ho, posting. Per Alice's wishes, this message is being shared at the time of her passing. Hi everyone, it looks like I ran out of time. I have so many dreams that I wanted to fulfill and plans to create new stories for you. There are a few in progress that might come to fruition in a few years if things work out. I did not ever imagine I would live to this age and end up a writer, editor, activist, and more. As a kid riddled with insecurity and internalized ableism, I could not see a path forward. It was thanks to friendships and some great teachers who believed in me that I was able to fight my way out of miserable situations into a place where I finally felt comfortable in my skin. We need more stories about us and our culture. You all, we all, deserve the everything and more in such a hostile, ableist environment. Our wisdom is incisive and unflinching. I'm honored to be your ancestor and believe disabled oracles like us will light the way to the future. Don't let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.

β€œDon’t let the bastards grind you down. I love you all.”

15.11.2025 06:15 β€” πŸ‘ 3573    πŸ” 1177    πŸ’¬ 10    πŸ“Œ 174

Yet one more way that we are failing children.

01.10.2025 05:08 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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#205 Schools as Sorting Machines Play #205 Schools as Sorting Machines by Have You Heard on desktop and mobile. Play over 320 million tracks for free on SoundCloud.

New episode of @haveyouheard.bsky.social, featuring research by @t-h-a-d.bsky.social, @emilykpenner.bsky.social, and Andrew Penner.

25.09.2025 14:50 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

We subsequently looked at a few of the images I have published, but none were deemed as cool as the Banff dataπŸ™ƒ

24.08.2025 22:22 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Kiddo was incredulous and excited when I noted that making pictures to help people understand the world better was my job, and said I could publish this. Kiddo then suggested a division of labor where they would bring me other tidbits like this for me to publish😍

24.08.2025 22:22 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Bar chart of Banff animal over and underpass crossing data.

Bar chart of Banff animal over and underpass crossing data.

Table from book that inspired figure (Banff animal over and underpass crossing data).

Table from book that inspired figure (Banff animal over and underpass crossing data).

Baby’s first data visualizationβ€”was reading a book about the Banff wildlife crossings and wanted to understand the preferences of different animals.

24.08.2025 22:22 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Fascinating work by Deven Carlson, @t-h-a-d.bsky.social, James Carter, @rachelmarisa.bsky.social, Vitali Radsky, and Andrew McEachin on both the potential of school choice for the purpose of desegregation and the disappointing reality that most school choice systems tend to exacerbate segregation

21.08.2025 15:20 β€” πŸ‘ 15    πŸ” 11    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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The Prison Soul Band That Opened for Stevie Wonder The band The Power of Attorney flourished when more Americans saw incarcerated people as more than their crimes.

The Power of Attorney flourished when more Americans saw incarcerated people as more than their crimes.

Their career would be unthinkable today: Leaving prison under armed guards to play hundreds of concerts and record in major studios.

16.08.2025 21:00 β€” πŸ‘ 25    πŸ” 18    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 3

For me as a graduate student, @isa-rc28.bsky.social modeled the kind of large-scale, big team, data intensive, methodologically rigorous, theoretically meaningful research that I aspired to do, and so it was especially meaningful to have our work recognized by this award!

07.08.2025 05:21 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

It was such an honor to receive this award from @isa-rc28.bsky.social
on behalf of @oliviergodechot.bsky.social and other coauthors.

07.08.2025 05:21 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

As @oliviergodechot.bsky.social notes, in some ways this could be seen as an example of "big" science:
coauthors: 29
years it took: 9
countries: 12
pages (w/ appendices): 111
observations: 1,164,687,821

But it can be summarized in one 5-word sentence: Top earners increasingly work together. PERIOD.

07.08.2025 05:10 β€” πŸ‘ 6    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

So excited to receive this award on behalf of @oliviergodechot.bsky.social and 27 other coauthors!

07.08.2025 05:10 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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In Prison, She Changed Constitutional Law. Meet the Trans Woman Behind the Case. Farmer v. Brennan is one of the most cited Supreme Court cases of all time. Few people know just how revolutionary Dee Farmer was.

Every jailhouse lawyer knows Dee Farmer’s name, even if they don’t know who she is.

What most of them don’t know is that the person who paved the road for them was a transgender woman who filed her suit from a federal prison cell, in an era when her gender identity was considered a mental illness.

27.07.2025 16:40 β€” πŸ‘ 78    πŸ” 36    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 2
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Immigrants in Europe and North America earn 18% less than natives – here’s why Immigrants struggle to access higher-paying jobs, meaning their skills often go to waste.

Short piece about our @nature.com paper on the immigrant-native pay gap in The Conversation! Also broad coverage in (so far) German, Dutch, and Spanish central news outlets today!

17.07.2025 09:14 β€” πŸ‘ 16    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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Immigrant–native pay gap driven by lack of access to high-paying jobs - Nature Data from nine European and North American countries reveal that the disparity in earnings between immigrants and natives is largely a result of segregation of immigrant workers into lower-paying jobs...

IN OTHER NEWS: check out our new COIN paper on immigrant--native pay gaps in advanced economies published in @nature.com this afternoon! Specifically, we study the relative contribution of within-job unequal pay vs between-job segregation to earnings disparities across immigrant generations. 1/9

16.07.2025 15:16 β€” πŸ‘ 64    πŸ” 28    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 2
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Immigrants in Europe and North America earn 18% less than natives – here’s why Immigrants struggle to access higher-paying jobs, meaning their skills often go to waste.

And you can read more of our thoughts at The Conversation.

16.07.2025 18:32 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Immigrant–native pay gap driven by lack of access to high-paying jobs - Nature Data from nine European and North American countries reveal that the disparity in earnings between immigrants and natives is largely a result of segregation of immigrant workers into lower-paying jobs...

The paper is available at Nature.

16.07.2025 18:32 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Very excited for the latest paper from the international administrative data network I am a part of!

Led by @aresherman.bsky.social we show that 75% of pay differences between immigrants and native-born workers arise because of sorting into different jobs, with 25% due to unequal pay within jobs.

16.07.2025 18:32 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

Universal school masking reduced weekly COVID-19 deaths by 0.57 per 100k people. 50 percent of districts removed mask requirements by spring 2022 contributing to 9 percent of COVID deaths that year, from Guzman, Imberman, Filosa, Kilbride, and Malkus https://www.nber.org/papers/w33849

31.05.2025 15:00 β€” πŸ‘ 284    πŸ” 115    πŸ’¬ 14    πŸ“Œ 19

AERA: I'm looking forward to sharing a paper co-authored with @alexfreidus.bsky.social and @ericaoturner.bsky.social on how families of disabled children made school choices during the pandemic. Should be a stellar symposium on school choice for marginalized families! 8am Sunday in Meeting Room 712.

26.04.2025 21:51 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

I love this assignment so much and can’t wait to use it (with attribution) the next time I teach Sociology of Education!

17.04.2025 14:00 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

This made my day, and I love these answers so much!

I tell my students that one of the reasons that I remain an optimist is because of how thoughtful and creative they are.

Looking forward to seeing what else your students come up with πŸ’œ

17.04.2025 13:52 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Roundtable attendees watch a presentation on a laptop.

Roundtable attendees watch a presentation on a laptop.

Roundtable attendees watch a presentation on a laptop.

Roundtable attendees watch a presentation on a laptop.

So excited to present some great undergrad honors theses from UCI LIFTED students at #psa2025

Thanks to everyone who came for the great questions, and to the session organizers who helped make this happen!

31.03.2025 03:15 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

A very old Soviet joke, from an especially dark time:

Foxes are fleeing the USSR in droves.
Q: Why are you running away?
Fox: The Soviets passed a new law that they’re going to arrest all camels.
Q: But you’re foxes!
Fox: Yeah, why don’t *you* try proving to the NKVD that you’re not a camel.

27.03.2025 22:21 β€” πŸ‘ 13763    πŸ” 4918    πŸ’¬ 111    πŸ“Œ 113

Okay, but how do you feel about steakholders?

I mean, nobody can get upset about researchers who want to communicate with folks carrying around slabs of red meat, right? πŸ₯©

25.03.2025 02:46 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Allow me to nerd out a bit about the stats in our recent PNAS paper...

To make this graph, we calculated a 100-by-100 grid of the average proportion of peers in each income percentile for students in each percentile (i.e., average peer income distributions for each student percentile). [1/n]

23.03.2025 23:05 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

What I keep turning over at 3am: How do we design an education system that cultivates people to have the courage to stand up, and stand together, for something greater than themselves?

21.03.2025 12:50 β€” πŸ‘ 19    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0
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Katie Porter for Governor | Official Campaign Website What California needs is a little bit of hope and a whole lot of grit. Join our team today to help Katie Porter stand up to Donald Trump and lower costs for Californians.

What California needs now is a little bit of hope and a whole lot of grit. That's why I'm running for Governor.

katieporter.com

11.03.2025 13:26 β€” πŸ‘ 2029    πŸ” 504    πŸ’¬ 245    πŸ“Œ 164
Computational Journalist New York, New York, United States

Great job alert: ProPublica is hiring a computational journalist, "someone who will use technology and data to identify and unlock stories that would otherwise be out of reach."

Salary: $120K-$140K
Remote: βœ…

Come join us!

06.03.2025 22:11 β€” πŸ‘ 7258    πŸ” 2375    πŸ’¬ 150    πŸ“Œ 102

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