Member Since 2019


Paul E. Peterson is the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government and Director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Senior Editor of Education Next, a journal of opinion and research. Peterson is a former director of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and of the Governmental Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. He received his Ph. D. in political science from the University of Chicago. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Education, and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the German Marshall Foundation, and the Center for Study in the Behavioral Sciences. He is the author of the book, Saving Schools: From Horace Mann to Virtual Learning (Harvard University Press, 2010). Peterson was a member of the independent review panel advising the Department of Education’s evaluation of the No Child Left Behind law and a member of the Hoover Institution’s Koret Task Force of K-12 Education at Stanford University. The Editorial Projects in Education Research Center reported that Peterson’s studies on school choice and vouchers have been among the country’s most influential studies of education policy.

Published Articles & Media

Parents protest at a meeting of the Loudoun County School Board in Ashburn, Virginia.

Parental Anxieties over Student Learning Dissipate as Schools Relax Anti-Covid Measures

But parent reports indicate some shift away from district schools to private, charter, and homeschooling alternatives
Illustration

A Half Century of Student Progress Nationwide

First comprehensive analysis finds broad gains in test scores, with larger gains for students of color than white students
Book cover of "Confessions of a School Reformer," by Larry Cuban

A Pessimistic View of Public-School Reform

In urban historian Larry Cuban’s view, corporations drive the action
Two photos, one of Volodymyr Zelensky and one of George Washington

Teaching Patriotism

Civics, fundamentally, is learning one’s history as a country.
Caprice Corona assists her three children during a music lesson at home.

Homeschooling Skyrocketed During the Pandemic, but What Does the Future Hold?

It may be less of an either-or option, as homeschooling is combined with online experiences, neighborhood pods, cooperatives, or joint undertakings with public and private schools
Kim Fritschy, left, is joined by other teachers calling for increased Covid-19 testing outside P.S. 64 Earth School Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021, in New York.

Post-New Year School Closures Defy Common Sense

The longer the education hesitancy persists, the greater the damage

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