Kathryn McDermott, Associate Professor

Center for Public Policy and Administration / School of Education
429 Hills North    
(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. Her current research is on the formation and implementation of state-level education policy. In 2001, she led a study of the capacity of the state of Massachusetts to implement the Education Reform Act of 1993. She is also interested in how policy affects educational equity. In 2000, she participated in research, sponsored by the Nellie Mae Foundation, on how recent education policy changes in New England are affecting disadvantaged students' ability to enroll in higher education. From 1997 to 1999 she co-directed a Connecticut Center for School Change project advocating regional governance and integration of schools in the Hartford area. She is the author of Controlling Public Education: Localism Versus Equity (1999), which critiques the current American system of local control of public schools.

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