Breadcrumb
Jessica Parker
Jessica Parker
Dr. Jessica K. Parker is a transformative educational leader with 25 years of experience across K–12 systems, California higher education, nationally recognized science centers and maker education initiatives. Jessica is an educator of educators, committed to developing people and programs that thrive in complexity and advance equity. Whether leading a statewide science initiative or a multimillion-dollar learning division, her leadership bridges the personal and the systemic, both supporting educators and leaders to strengthen their practice while reimagining the systems in which they work.
Jessica’s most recent roles include Executive Director of Learning at the Lawrence Hall of Science, UC Berkeley’s public science center, and Senior Director of Educator Engagement at the Exploratorium. In both roles, she led the design and development of innovative products and programs, services and research agendas with a focus on equity and social justice. Jessica pioneered Sonoma State’s Maker Certificate Program, which was recognized by President Obama’s Nation of Makers for leadership in maker education. She is also the author of Teaching Tech-Savvy Kids: Bringing Digital Media into the Classroom. Dr. Parker earned her PhD in Education from UC Berkeley.
As a scholar-practitioner, Dr. Parker’s research agenda bridges learning sciences, new media studies, and organizational change, with a focus on how educational systems can better support agency-driven, equity-centered learning. Her research explores how people learn across classrooms, communities, and cultural institutions, with particular attention to digital media and new technologies, STEM education, and equity-centered design. Her doctoral work at UC Berkeley examined student media production as a lever for agency and school change, laying the groundwork for a broader research agenda that now spans maker education, teacher leadership, and science learning systems. Her current research investigates how leaders use design frameworks, digital tools and learning technologies to enact and sustain equity-centered change across educational organizations and learning ecosystems.
