Research

Lorraine McDonnell is a professor of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara.  Prior to joining the UCSB faculty, Lorraine was a senior political scientist at RAND where her research focused on the design and implementation of federal and state education policies and their effects on school practices.  In her book, Persuasion, Politics, and Educational Testing (Harvard University Press, 2004), she examined the politics of student testing, particularly the curricular and political values underlying state assessm

Kathryn McDermott is assistant professor of education and public policy, and associate director of the Center for Education Policy, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.  She holds a joint appointment in the School of Education and the Center for Public Policy and Administration.  Her main research interest is on the balance of power among local, state, and federal education authorities, and the effect of that balance on educational quality and equity.  She is the author of Controlling Public Education: Localism Versus Equity (Un

Carl Kaestle is university professor emeritus in the departments of education, history, and public policy at Brown University.  He is also presently a resident fellow at the Spencer Foundation.  Carl has been the director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, the president of the National Academy of Education, vice-chair of the National Research Council’s Board on Testing and Assessment, a principal consultant for the PBS documentary School, and director of the Advanced Studies Fellowship Program at Brown.  With the postdocto

Carmen Perez Hogan’s lifelong goal has been to make the educational opportunities that exist for native English speaking children in America available to English language learners with limited English proficiency. She was a teacher and administrator in New York City, director of the bilingual teacher education programs at SUNY-Albany and the coordinator of the New York State Education Department’s Office of Bilingual Education.  She graduated from the New York City public schools, and earned a B.A. from Saint Joseph’s College and an M.A.

Jeffrey Henig is a professor of political science and education at Teachers College, and professor of political science at Columbia University.  He has written broadly on urban politics, privatization, and on education policy.  Among his books are Public Policy and Federalism (St.

Tom Hehir is a professor of practice in the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He served as director of the U.S.

Margaret Goertz is a professor of education policy and co-director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She has conducted extensive research on state education reform policies, education finance, state teacher policies, state and federal programs for special-needs students, and the implementation of standards-based reform. Her current research interests include the effect of state and federal accountability policies on schools and school districts.

Christopher Cross is chairman of Cross & Joftus, LLC, an education policy consulting firm.  From 1994 to 2002, he served as president and chief executive officer of the Council for Basic Education (CBE).  Before joining CBE, Cross served as director of the Education Initiative of The Business Roundtable and as assistant secretary for educational research and improvement in the U.S.

Marguerite Clarke is a senior education specialist in the Human Development Network of the World Bank.  Previously she held academic appointments at universities in Australia and the United States and worked as a classroom teacher in the Irish and Japanese education systems.  Marguerite’s work focuses on equity and quality issues in education, particularly in relation to the development and use of large-scale testing and accountability systems.  In her current position, she oversees the World Bank’s global initiatives in the area of student lea