Haeryun Kim is a doctoral candidate in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where her research examines the nature and impacts of K–12 education policies, particularly school finance and teacher labor markets, and how their effects on the equitable allocation of financial and human resources vary across contexts. Her dissertation investigates how Illinois’ school funding formula, Evidence-Based Funding (EBF), has affected equity in financial and personnel allocation across school districts, contributing evidence to ongoing debates about how states can design funding systems that meaningfully advance equity.  

That research extends to state and national levels, where Haeryun examines teacher workforce policies and practices across a range of contexts. She co-authored a post for the Brookings Institution’s Brown Center Chalkboard examining the successes and challenges of California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) in advancing equity in school funding and student outcomes. Her additional work on teacher workforce policies includes studies on the operation and effectiveness of school hiring committees, statewide retention of science and math teachers in Illinois, and the nationwide impact of state-level computer science policies on teacher production across all fifty states and D.C. She has extended this line of research by applying an intersectional lens to equity in computer science enrollment and by developing more detailed state-level policy datasets.  

Haeryun holds a double Bachelor of Arts in Education and English Education, with a minor in Political Science and International Relations, and a Master of Arts in Educational Policy and Administration, both from Chung-Ang University in Seoul, South Korea. Her academic foundation spans education policy, economics, and political science—a combination that informs her quantitative, equity-focused approach to education research.  

Beyond her academic work, Haeryun brings a broad international perspective to her scholarship. Drawing on her background growing up in South Korea, she has served since 2023 as a United States correspondent for the Korean Educational Development Institute (KEDI), South Korea’s largest national research institution, publishing monthly reports on U.S. education policy to inform policymakers abroad.