She has a Ph.D. in Education with an emphasis on Race and Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. A former Oakland Unified School District teacher and teacher educator, Kohli has spent over 15 years in urban public schools across the country. Her research interests include critical race theory, racial climate and racial hierarchies in K-12 schools, and she has studied the strengths, barriers and resiliency of teachers of color across the pipeline. She was the chair for the Critical Educators for Social Justice Special Interest Group for the American Educational Research Association and currently serves on the editorial board of the international journal Race, Ethnicity and Education. Kohli has published in journals such as Urban Education, Equity and Excellence in Education, the Urban Review, and Teacher Education Quarterly.