B.A. Political Economy, Colorado College
Ph.D. Political Science, University of California, Berkeley
I have two basic teaching tenets. First, I hold students to high standards. I expect students to be able to ask good questions, gather appropriate data, uncover bias and assumptions, and craft clear arguments. Second, I aim to provide differentiated, diverse instruction to suit individual students. As a teacher, I believe it is my job to grasp each student's strengths and to tailor my instruction accordingly.
Rather than simply attempting to transmit knowledge to students, I encourage students to take ownership of the class and become classroom leaders. We do this by moving through several activities in a typical class, including: lecture, diagramming causal arguments, pair discussion, student presentations, and debates. I also engage students by incorporating service learning into my classes. Students work on real world projects connected to class themes. For example, after a class on youth leadership development, my education policy seminar conducted a workshop for local high school students that modeled best-practice ideas. Afterward, they reflected on what they learned about these ideas after trying to implement them.
BPOLST 504 Understanding and Managing Organizations in Policy Environments
BPOLST 505 Leadership and Organizations
BIS 338 Political Institutions and Processes
BIS 443 Education Policy
Having worked for the California state legislature and in a Japanese school district office, I aim to produce research that addresses issues of concern to policymakers and that helps to improve public education. My book, The Politics of Structural Education Reform, describes how global trends have facilitated similar educational restructuring around the world. Specifically, concern that educational problems hurt international competitiveness, weakened and divided teachers' unions, and popular New Public Management ideas focused business leaders' and politicians' attention on realigning educational authority. However, this restructuring served politicians' and bureaucrats' interests while neglecting teachers and principals. My current research projects focus on how to close the achievement gap and how to lead change within school districts. I am particularly interested in charter schools and after school programs as education reform strategies.
The Politics of Structural Education Reform. New York, NY: Routledge Press, 2008.
What is Arkansas Doing to Close the Achievement Gap? (with Jay Barth). Little Rock, AR: Arkansas Public Policy Panel and Arkansas Advocates for Children & Families, 2008.
"Leading Change in an Urban School District" (with Sharon Wrobel, Joseph Howard, and Ellen Eddings). Under submission to Public Performance and Management Review.
"Paradigms," U.S.-Japan Relations in a Changing World, edited by Steven Vogel. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press. Published in Japanese by Chuo Koron Press, 2002.
