EdSource is an independent, nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to clarify complex education issues and to promote thoughtful policy decisions about public school improvement. Over nearly three decades, EdSource has served as a credible and respected source of K–12 education information, research, analysis, and data. Since its inception in 1977 EdSource has maintained a unique, core competency for studying and reporting on California school finance, while also broadening the education policy and school reform topics it researches. Its audience includes policymakers, researchers, K–12 and college educators, education media, and parent and community leaders.
Similar Students, Different Results: Why Do Some Schools Do Better? reports on the initial findings of a study led by EdSource and including researchers from Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the American institutes for Research. Findings
Trish Williams, study project director, has been Executive Director of EdSource since 1992. Under her leadership, EdSource has expanded its research role, broadened the education policy topics it researches and reports on, diversified and significantly increased its audience reach within California and nationally, and established a reputation as a premier resource for high quality and impartial information, research, data, and analysis. Besides Similar Schools, Different Results, EdSource has conducted other surveys, including one the past two years with California’s 500+ charter schools, and participated on major research or evaluation teams, including California's Class Size Reduction Research Consortium and the state funded II/USP evaluation. Before coming to EdSource, Williams had served as a Presidential Management Intern and then a management analyst for three years in Washington D.C. at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She subsequently served eight years as a program and policy consultant to the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth, a statewide agency with oversight powers over the state departments serving children. Williams's two sons are graduates of the Cupertino public schools where Williams served as an active volunteer at the elementary, middle, high school, and district levels. Williams holds a bachelors degree in English literature and a master’s degree in urban studies/public policy from her hometown school, the University of Tulsa.
Michael W. Kirst, principal investigator for the study, has been Professor of Education and Business Administration at Stanford University since 1969. He is a faculty affiliate with the Department of Political Science, and has a courtesy appointment with the Graduate School of Business. Kirst was a member of the California State Board of Education (1975-1982) and its president from 1977 to 1981. Before joining the Stanford faculty, he held positions with the federal government including Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Manpower, Employment and Poverty, and Director of Program Planning and Evaluation for the Bureau of Elementary and Secondary Education in the U.S. Office of Education. He has been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Sciences; a member of the National Academy of Education since 1979; Vice-President of the American Educational Research Association; and commissioner of the Education Commission of the States. He co-founded Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) and is on the management/research staff of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education His numerous articles address school finance politics, curriculum politics, intergovernmental relations, and education reform policies. Recent books include The Political Dynamics of American Education (2005) and From High School to College (2004). Kirst holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Dartmouth College, an M.P.A. in government and economics from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in political economy and government from Harvard.
Edward H. Haertel, senior technical advisor, received his Ph.D. in 1980 from the University of Chicago and taught for one year at the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle before coming to Stanford University, where he is a Professor in the School of Education. His research and teaching focus on quantitative research methods, psychometrics, and educational policy, especially test-based accountability and the use of test data for educational program evaluation. Haertel's early work investigated the use of latent class models for item response data. Current research projects include studies of standard setting for educational tests, validation of standards-based score reports and decision rules, and statistical properties of large-scale test-based accountability systems. Recent publications include "Validity Arguments for High-Stakes Testing" (1999), "Performance Assessment and Educational Reform" (1999), and "Validating standards-based test score interpretations" (2004, with W. A. Lorié). Haertel has served as president of the National Council on Measurement in Education and as a member of the National Assessment Governing Board. He co-chairs advisory committees concerned with California's test-based school accountability system. He has served on numerous state and national advisory committees related to educational testing, assessment, and evaluation, including the Joint Committee responsible for the most recent revision of the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing. He has been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and is a member of the National Academy of Education.
EdSource
Mary Perry is Deputy Director of EdSource. At EdSource since 1993, she is widely known for her expertise in California school finance. She works with the executive director on administration and manages the planning and administration of the annual publication program, website, and various special projects, including the Ed-Data Partnership website. As the senior publications writer, she is the primary author of several publications each year, including the annual EdSource School Finance update. She served as a member of the governing board of the Campbell Union School District from 1990-99, including two years as board president, and also chaired a local bond election campaign. Previously, she was a PTA president. Her experience prior to joining EdSource includes being education editor at Bay Area Parent Magazine and senior advertising copywriter at Carter, Callahan & Associates. She holds a B.S. in journalism from the University of Oregon.
Carol Studier has been a Senior Research Associate at EdSource since 2003—researching and writing reports and website material on a variety of topics including California’s middle and high schools, community colleges, teacher tenure policies, and career and technical education programs. Before coming to EdSource, she was the program officer for education at the Walter and Elise Haas Fund where she cultivated and approved grants to improve teacher hiring, development, and retention. While at the American Institutes for Research, she conducted the qualitative portion of a study on how California’s class size reduction policy for public schools affected English learners and low-income students. She also helped develop a website to assist teachers and principals in using data to make decisions. She has five years of experience raising funds and preparing publications for education organizations, and—prior to her work in education—spent five years marketing services for architecture and design firms. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and a master’s in education policy from Stanford University.
Noli Brazil has been a Research Assistant at EdSource since 2003. In addition to his work on this study, he is responsible for providing research and writing support for all program activities, including identifying, compiling, analyzing, interpreting and visually representing education statistics and other relevant data for EdSource Online, the Ed-Data Partnership website, and various publications. His experience prior to joining EdSource includes being a research assistant in the Cognitive Science and Education Departments at U.C. Berkeley and a finance intern at Merrill Lynch. He holds a B.S. in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley, and is currently studying for a master’s degree in statistics at Stanford University.
Stanford University
Sean F. Reardon, Ed.D., is Associate Professor of Education and (by courtesy) Sociology at Stanford University. His interests focus on the effects of educational policy on educational and social inequality; the causes, patterns, and consequences of residential and school segregation; the effects of community and neighborhood context on adolescent development and behavior; and applied statistical methods for educational and social policy research. His primary research examines the relative contribution of family, school, and neighborhood environments to racial/ethnic and socioeconomic achievement disparities. He teaches graduate courses in educational policy research, inequality, and applied statistical methods. He is currently a recipient of a William T. Grant Foundation Scholar Award and a Carnegie Scholar Award.
University of California, Berkeley
Elisabeth Woody is a Principal Research Scientist at Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) at the University of California, Berkeley, where she directs K-12 research and policy projects. Her work focuses on the impact of federal, state, and district-level policies and reforms on teaching and learning and on the intersection of gender, race, class, and sexuality in education. Her current research includes studies of district strategies to close gaps in student achievement; effective practices in schools serving low-income diverse students; and an analysis of achievement trends by gender and race. She recently completed a study of educators' responses to state and federal systems of accountability and how teachers and principals may use such systems to address issues of equity. Previously, she co-conducted the largest comprehensive study of public single-sex education in the U.S. to date, focusing on students' experiences with gender-based school reform. Dr. Woody received her Ed.M. from Harvard University, and her Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Berkeley.
Melissa Henne is an Assistant Research Scientist at Policy Analysis of California Education (PACE) at the University of California, Berkeley, where she works in the Elementary/Secondary Education division. Henne has been involved in several projects, including case studies of effective districts and educators’ responses to state accountability. Prior to coming to PACE, Henne was a project coordinator at the New York State Education Department, were she assisted in the implementation of the School Quality Review Initiative (SQRI). Previously, she taught eight-grade English and Social Studies in Washington Heights in New York City. Henne received her B.A. from Princeton University and M.P.A from Columbia University.
American Institutes for Research (AIR)
Roger Levine is director of the Cognitive Survey Laboratory at AIR. His areas of expertise include cognitive survey research, usability testing, survey design, survey operations, survey analysis, data analysis, and critical incident research. His experience includes currently co-leading the evaluation of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education program and directing the technical evaluation and communication assistance study for NSF’s Geoscience Opportunities for Enhancing Diversity program. He has also led the evaluation of NASA’s Sun-Earth Connectino Educational Forum; directed the development and validation of subject matter requirements for single subject credentials in English, mathematics, science, and social science for the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing; directed the development of home and instructional background indicators for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (for the National Center for Education Statistics); and been technical consultant for cognitive testing of voluntary national test items for the U.S. Department of Education and the National Assessment Governing Board. He has also conducted numerous studies in the health care field. He holds a B.S. in biology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; and M.S. in psychology from Tufts University, and a Ph.D. in behavioral endocrinology from Stanford University.
Jesse D. Levin, principal analyst for this study, is a Senior Research Scientist for the Education Program at AIR. There he has been involved in a number of projects investigating educational production, finance and adequacy. Currently, he serves as Project Director for The Cost of Comprehensive High School Reform, a study of the costs of successfully implementing and maintaining selected mainstream comprehensive high school reform models. Previous work has included serving as: Deputy Project Director and Principal Analyst on the New York Adequacy Study, an effort to define and cost out the resources necessary to provide an adequate education for students enrolled in New York public schools; Principal Analyst for the expenditure analysis component of the National Early Intervention Longitudinal Study (NEILS), which examined expenditures for, and potential benefits of, early intervention services provided to children under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Prior to joining AIR, Dr. Levin served as an Economic Researcher for the Institute for Research of Schooling, Labor Market and Economic Development (SCHOLAR) in the Netherlands, where he conducted research in the economics of education and labor economics. His dissertation, Essays in the Economics of Education won honorable mention in the 2003-2004 Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM) Dissertation Award. He has also served as a referee for Economics of Education Review. Levin received his Ph.D. from the University of Amsterdam and the Tinbergen Institute in 2002.
Trouble reading this page? Our site is best viewed in IE 5, Safari 1, Firefox 1 or AOL 9 or higher.