Improving Educational Outcomes

Photo of a student walking upstairs with an unzipped blue backpack slung over his right arm.Education is an important policy area for most state and local governments. Federal and state education policies are often on the frontiers of policy development. The School of Public Policy has three faculty members in the education policy track.

Pamela R. Bennett is an associate professor in the education policy track. She investigates racial, ethnic, and nativity differences in post-secondary educational outcomes, the consequences of higher education policy on college outcomes, and the consequences of racial residential segregation. Jane Arnold Lincove is also an associate professor in education policy. Her research focuses on the implementation and effects of market-based policy in public education, including teacher compensation, and the equity effects on low-income families, minorities, and girls.

In the education policy track, students focus on various types of education policies made at every level of government, and learn about the multiple disciplinary and methodological perspectives on education policy. Students take courses such as education law, finance, civil rights and policy formulation.