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High School Dropout, Graduation, and Completion Rates: Better Data, Better Measures, Better Decisions (2011)

Chapter: Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. High School Dropout, Graduation, and Completion Rates: Better Data, Better Measures, Better Decisions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13035.
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B
Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff

Robert M. Hauser (Chair) is executive director, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education at the National Research Council, and Vilas Research Professor, Emeritus, at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he has directed the Center for Demography and Ecology and the Institute for Research on Poverty. He has worked on the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study since 1969 and directed it since 1980. His current research interests include trends in educational progression and social mobility in the United States among racial and ethnic groups, the uses of educational assessment as a policy tool, the effects of families on social and economic inequality, changes in socioeconomic standing, health, and well-being across the life course. Hauser has contributed to studies of educational performance and attainment; he has directed a national study of social mobility; and his Wisconsin Longitudinal Study has followed the life course of 10,000 Wisconsin high school graduates and their families for almost 50 years. He has contributed to statistical methods for discrete multivariate analysis and structural equation models and to methods for the measurement of social and economic standing. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Statistical Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. At the National Research Council (NRC), he has served on the Committee on National Statistics, the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, and the Board on Testing and Assessment. He has also served on numerous NRC research panels and chaired panel studies of high-stakes testing and standards for adult literacy. He recently served on the secretary of

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. High School Dropout, Graduation, and Completion Rates: Better Data, Better Measures, Better Decisions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13035.
×

education’s task force on the measurement of high school dropout rates. He has a B.A. in economics from the University of Chicago and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in sociology from the University of Michigan.


Elaine Allensworth is the interim coexecutive director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. She conducts research on the structural factors that affect high school students’ educational attainment, particularly the factors that affect graduation and dropout rates. Her body of work includes research on school organizational structure, instruction, and early indicators of dropping out. Her research is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the National Science Foundation, and the Institute of Education Sciences at the U.S. Department of Education. Currently she is leading a mixed-methods study of the transition to high school, as well as studies on the effects of curricular reforms on instruction, grades, test scores, high school graduation, and college attendance. She has a Ph.D. in sociology and an M.A. in urban studies from Michigan State University and was once a high school teacher.


G. Lavan Dukes is the educational policy development director at the Florida Department of Education. In this role, he establishes policy direction for the database of information on students and teachers in the Florida state public school system. He also provides policy guidance to staff regarding the department’s major statistical publications and presentations and serves as representative of the state commissioner on issues dealing with state and federal reporting requirements. He led the work to establish student and staff databases that are the basis of Florida’s Education Data Warehouse. He has served on many national task forces and committees dealing with data reporting, systems design, and student, staff, and financial information systems. He currently serves as Florida’s representative on the National Cooperative Education Statistics System and on the Education Information Management Advisory Committee of the Council of Chief State School Officers. At the National Research Council, he served on the Committee on Improving Measures of Access to Equal Educational Opportunity. His career began as a middle school English teacher. He has an M.A. in education from Florida State University.


Kenji Hakuta is the Lee J. Jacks Professor of Education at Stanford University. An experimental psycholinguist by training, he is best known for his work in the areas of bilingualism and the acquisition of English by immigrant students. Hakuta is also active in education policy. He has testified before Congress and other public bodies on language policy, the education of language-minority students, affirmative action in higher education, and improving the quality of education research. He has served as an expert witness in education litigation involving language-minority students. He has been on the faculty at Stanford

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. High School Dropout, Graduation, and Completion Rates: Better Data, Better Measures, Better Decisions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13035.
×

since 1989, except for three years (2003-2006) when he helped start the University of California at Merced as its founding dean of social sciences, humanities, and arts. He was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, is an elected member of the National Academy of Education, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Linguistics and Language Sciences). He currently serves on the board of the Educational Testing Service and as vice-chair of the board of the Spencer Foundation. At the National Research Council, Hakuta chaired the Committee on Developing a Research Agenda on the Education of Limited English Proficient and Bilingual Students and served on the Committee on Educational Excellence and Testing Equity. He has a B.A. (magna cum laude) in psychology and social relations and a Ph.D. in experimental psychology, both from Harvard University.


Judith A. Koenig (Study Director) is a senior program officer for the Board on Testing and Assessment. Since 1999, she has directed measurement-related studies designed to inform education policy, including studies of the National Assessment of Educational Progress and of assessments for teacher licensure and advanced-level certification, inclusion of special needs students in assessment programs, developing assessments for state and federal accountability programs, and setting standards for the National Assessment of Adult Literacy. From 1984 to 1999, she worked at the Association of American Medical Colleges on the Medical College Admission Test, directing operational programs and leading a comprehensive research program on the examination. Prior to that, she worked for 10 years as a special education teacher and diagnostician. She has a B.A. (1975) in special education from Michigan State University, an M.A. (1984) in psychology from George Mason University, and a Ph.D. (2003) in educational measurement, statistics, and evaluation from the University of Maryland.


Russell W. Rumberger is professor of education in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California (UC), Santa Barbara, and former director of the Linguistic Minority Research Institute, a UC multicampus research unit established in 1984 to foster interdisciplinary research and to improve academic achievement of children from diverse language backgrounds. A faculty member at Santa Barbara since 1987, he has published widely in the areas of education and work, the schooling of disadvantaged students, school effectiveness, and education policy. He has been conducting research on school dropouts for the past 25 years and has written numerous research papers and essays on the topic. He served as a member of the Task Force on Graduation, Completion, and Dropout Indicators of the U.S. Department of Education in 2004. At the National Research Council, he was a member of the Committee on Increasing High School Students’ Engagement and Motivation to Learn and currently serves on the Committee on the Impact of Mobility and Change on the Lives of Young

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. High School Dropout, Graduation, and Completion Rates: Better Data, Better Measures, Better Decisions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13035.
×

Children, Schools, and Neighborhoods. He is currently directing the California Dropout Research Project. He has a B.S. in electrical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a Ph.D. in education and an M.A. in economics from Stanford University.


John Robert Warren is professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota. His research interests are inequalities in educational and health outcomes. His recent work focuses on the measurement of state high school completion rates, the consequences of state high school exit examinations for educational and labor market outcomes, the magnitude of “panel conditioning” (or time in survey) effects in longitudinal surveys, changes over time in the association between socioeconomic status and health, and the effects of life-course trajectories of work and family roles on health and financial outcomes in late adulthood. He has published numerous journal articles on these topics and recently served as deputy editor of the journal Sociology of Education. He has a B.A. in sociology and anthropology from Carleton College and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in sociology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.


Patricia I. Wright is the superintendent of public instruction in the Virginia Department of Education. She has served as deputy superintendent, assistant superintendent for instruction, director of secondary instruction, and state mathematics specialist in the Virginia Department of Education. During her more than 25 years with the Virginia Department of Education and 34 total years in public education, she has worked closely with the Board of Education, governors, the General Assembly, local school systems, and professional organizations to develop and implement Virginia’s Standards of Learning accountability program, a graduation and completion index, and a statewide system of support for public schools. She currently serves as a member of the Council of Chief State School Officers ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) Reauthorization Task Force, a commissioner on the Education Commission of the States, and a member of the National High School Center Advisory Board. She also serves as a board member on the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education State Partnership, the Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals, and the Virginia Advanced Studies Strategies (National Mathematics and Science Initiative). She has a Ph.D. in mathematics education from the University of Virginia, an M.A. in mathematics education from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a B.A. in mathematics from James Madison University.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. High School Dropout, Graduation, and Completion Rates: Better Data, Better Measures, Better Decisions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13035.
×
Page 137
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. High School Dropout, Graduation, and Completion Rates: Better Data, Better Measures, Better Decisions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13035.
×
Page 138
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. High School Dropout, Graduation, and Completion Rates: Better Data, Better Measures, Better Decisions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13035.
×
Page 139
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Biographical Sketches of Committee Members and Staff." National Research Council. 2011. High School Dropout, Graduation, and Completion Rates: Better Data, Better Measures, Better Decisions. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13035.
×
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High school graduation and dropout rates have long been used as indicators of educational system productivity and effectiveness and of social and economic well being. While determining these rates may seem like a straightforward task, their calculation is in fact quite complicated. How does one count a student who leaves a regular high school but later completes a GED? How does one count a student who spends most of his/her high school years at one school and then transfers to another? If the student graduates, which school should receive credit? If the student drops out, which school should take responsibility?

High School Dropout, Graduation, and Completion Rates addresses these issues and to examine (1) the strengths, limitations, accuracy, and utility of the available dropout and completion measures; (2) the state of the art with respect to longitudinal data systems; and (3) ways that dropout and completion rates can be used to improve policy and practice.

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