Kathryn McDermott, Associate Professor

Center for Public Policy and Administration / School of Education
258 Hills South
(413) 545-3562
mcdermott@educ.umass.edu
website

Education: Ph.D. in Political Science: Yale, 1997

Research Interests: state and federal education policy; educational equity; policy implementation

Kathryn McDermott is Associate Professor of Education and Public Policy. She conducts research on the formation and implementation of state-level education policy and the effects of policy on educational equity. In 2001, she led a statewide study of Massachusetts’ capacity to implement the Education Reform Act of 1993, and also has examined the role of policy in providing access to higher education in New England. She is the author of Controlling Public Education: Localism Versus Equity, which critiques the current American system of local control of public schools. Her recent book, High Stakes Reform: The Politics of Educational Accountability, places growing demands for educational accountability within the general context of performance measurement policy and examines the policy interventions of states in local school districts.

Courses Taught: PUBP&ADM  601 - Politcs of the Policy Process; PUBP&ADM  610 - Capstone; PUBP&ADM  622 - Ethics&Public Policy; PUBP&ADM  697Q - U.S. Education Policy

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