Communications Director, Spencer Foundation
Emily Krone Phillips is the communications director at the Spencer Foundation, a major private funder of education research. An author and communications professional, she is focused on the intersection between education policy, research, and practice. She previously worked as an education reporter for the Daily Herald newspaper and as the communications director for the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. Her book The Make-Or-Break Year (The New Press 2019) weaves together stories about Chicago students and educators with groundbreaking research on the critical importance of ninth grade academic performance for future academic success.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Princeton University and a master’s degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.