Dr. Soo-yong Byun
Dr. Soo-yong Byun
Professor of Education, Demography, and Asian Studies; Social Science Research Institute co-funded faculty member
Email:[email protected]
Phone: 814-863-1626
310D Rackley Building
University Park, PA 16802
Department(s)
- Education Policy Studies
Program(s)
- Educational Theory and Policy Program, MA
- Education and Public Policy, BS
- Education Policy and Leadership, PhD
- Comparative and International Education, Dual-title
Center(s)
- Center on Rural Education and Communities (CREC)
- Educational Risk Initiative (ERI)
- Center for Evaluation and Education Policy Analysis (CEEPA)
- Population Research Institute (PRI)
Most excited about: Social Justice and Equity
Current Research: The roles of shadow education in non-cognitive outcomes and the roles of teacher leadership in professor wellbeing and teacher collaboration.
Education
- PhD, Educational Policy and Administration (Concentration on Comparative and International Development Education), University of Minnesota at Twin Cities
- MA, Sociology of Education, Korea University (South Korea)
Biography
Soo-yong Byun is a professor of Education (Educational Theory and Policy), Demography, and Asian Studies with a joint appointment with the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) as a co-funded faculty at the Pennsylvania State University. He is a faculty member of Penn State's Comparative and International Education Program.
Before joining Penn State in 2012, he worked as a postdoctoral scholar at the National Research Center on Rural Education Support, which was housed within the Center for Developmental Science in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2008 to 2011. He also served as a research associate and survey/psychometric specialist for the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)'s Teacher Education Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M) at the College of Education at Michigan State University from 2007 to 2008.
Dr. Byun earned his Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Administration, with a focus on Comparative and International Development Education track, from the University of Minnesota at Twin Cities in 2007. In 2017, he was named one of 17 rising alumni by the University of Minnesota's College of Education and Human Development. He was also honored with the 2021 Penn State's College of Education Senior Outstanding Research Award. He served as the president of the Korean American Educational Researchers Association (KAERA) for 2017-18 and as a visiting scholar at Seoul National University's Department of Education for 2018-19.
His scholarly interests encompass sociology of education, international comparative education, rural education, and educational policy analysis and program evaluation. His work has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including American Educational Research Journal, Comparative Education Review, and Sociology of Education. Furthermore, he has contributed to multiple editorial and advisory boards, including American Educational Research Journal, American Journal of Education, and Sociology of Education.
Areas of Expertise
Expertise and Research Interests
Most Recent Papers
- Byun, S., Jung, J., & Shin, T. (2023). Does shadow education discourage or encourage creative thinking? Evidence from South Korea. Journal for the Study of Education and Development, 46(4), 774-808. doi:10.1080/02103702.2023.2230042
Most Cited Papers
- Byun, S., Jung, J., & Shin, T. (2023). Does shadow education discourage or encourage creative thinking? Evidence from South Korea. Journal for the Study of Education and Development, 46(4), 774-808. doi:10.1080/02103702.2023.2230042
Most Recognized Papers
- Byun, S., Chung, H., & Baker, D. (2018). Global patterns of the use of shadow education: Student, family, and national influences. Research in the Sociology of Education, 20, 71-105. doi:10.1108/S1479-353920180000020004.
- Byun, S., Schofer, E., & Kim, K. (2012). Revisiting the role of cultural capital in East Asian educational systems: The case of South Korea. Sociology of Education, 85(3):219-239. doi:10.1177/0038040712447180
- Byun, S., & Park, H. (2012). The academic success of East Asian American youth: The role of shadow education. Sociology of Education, 85(1), 40-60. doi:10.1177/0038040711417009 (equal contribution)
- Byun, S., Meece, J. L., & Irvin, M. J. (2012). Rural-nonrural disparities in postsecondary educational attainment revisited. American Educational Research Journal, 49(3), 412-437. doi:10.3102/0002831211416344
- Byun, S., & Kim, K. (2010). Educational inequality in South Korea: The widening socioeconomic gap in student achievement. Research in the Sociology of Education, 17, 155-182. doi:10.1108/S1479-3539(2010)0000017008
Most Interesting Papers
- Park, H., & Byun, S. (2015). Why some countries attract high-ability young students to teaching: Cross-national comparisons of students' expectation to become a teacher. Comparative Education Review, 59(3), 523-549. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/681930
- Best Paper Award in the thematic area of Applied Educational Research, Journal for the Study of Education and Development, 2024.
- Outstanding Academic Book Award, Korean National Academy of Sciences, 2023
- Outstanding reviewer, American Journal of Education, 2023
- Senior Outstanding Research Award, College of Education, Penn State, 2021
- Sejong Academic Book Award, Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2019
- Outstanding Journal Article Published in the International Review of Educational Technology Research and Development, International Division of Association for Educational Communications & Technology, 2018
- College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) Rising Alumni, CEHD Alumni Society, University of Minnesota, 2017
- Sociology of Education
- Introduction to Comparative Education
- Comparative Educational Research Using Large-Scale Data
- Causal Inference in Educational Policy Research