Kenneth Wong
Professor of Education:
Education
Phone: +1 401 863 1486
Kenneth_Wong@brown.edu
A political scientist by training, Kenneth Wong has conducted extensive research in urban school reform, mayoral involvement in education, charter schools, state finance and education policies, intergovernmental relations, and federal education policies (such as restructuring efforts in high poverty schools). His research projects have received support from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences, and several foundations.
Biography
Kenneth Wong is the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair for Education Policy at Brown. He has conducted extensive research in the politics of education, federalism, policy innovation, outcome-based accountability, and governance redesign (including city and state takeover, management reform, and Title I school-wide reform). His research has received support from the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Education, the Social Science Research Council, the Spencer Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the Broad Foundation, the British Council, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and the Rockefeller Foundation. He has advised the U.S. Congress, state legislature, governor and mayoral offices, and the leadership in several large urban school systems on how to redesign the accountability framework. Currently, he is co-editor of a major educational policy journal, Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis.
Interests
Kenneth Wong is leading three multidisciplinary research teams to address critical issues in education reform. First, with support from foundations and governmental agencies over the last several years, Wong has studied the design, implementation, and effects of mayoral-led urban school systems. Using both qualitative and quantitative research methods, this project provides the most comprehensive empirical analysis on the topic of mayoral involvement across the nation’s school systems. Second, Wong coordinates a multidisciplinary group of researchers from social sciences and physical sciences to examine the implementation of the National Science Foundation’s Math and Science Partnership Program across various states. This multi-year project analyzes the extent to which the NSF initiative improves student performance in math and science, broadens the teacher pipeline in math and science, and raises curriculum standards in these subjects. Finally, with support from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences, Wong has launched several longitudinal projects on charter school effectiveness. While one project addresses the legislative context of charter reform, another uses the randomized field method to examine student academic gains over time.
Awards
2005-present The Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair for Education Policy
2004-05 Principal Investigator (Center Founding Director), "National Research Center on School Choice, Competition, and Student Achievement," a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences
2002-03 Principal Investigator, "Educational Reform in Japan," Fellowship for International Senior Scientists awarded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
2002-04 President, Politics of Education Association
1989-90 Spencer Fellow, National Academy of Education Research Project, "Politics of State Share in Public School Financing in the U.S." (Leave of absence from teaching during the academic year)
Affiliations
American Political Science Association
American Educational Research Association
Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management
Midwest Political Science Association
Southern Political Science Association
American Education Finance Association
Teaching
Public Policy (Policy Redesign, Implementation, and Evaluation), Politics of Education (School Reform), American Politics, Intergovernmental Relations (Federalism), Urban and State Government
Funded Research
RESEARCH PROJECTS
2005-09 Principal Investigator, Brown Research Projects on Charter Schools and Educational Choice, Subcontract with the Vanderbilt Center on School Choice, funded by the Institute of Education Sciences
2004-09 Co-Principal Investigator, Math and Science Partnership Program Evaluation, National Science Foundation ($13 million of which Brown's subcontract is $3 million)
2004-05 Principal Investigator (Center Founding Director), "National Research Center on School Choice, Competition, and Student Achievement," a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences
2004-05 Co-Investigator, "Vanderbilt Predoctoral Research Training in Education Sciences," a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences
2004-05 Principal Investigator, "The Tennessee Workforce Development System," funded by the Rockefeller Foundation
2004 Principal Investigator, "Charter Schools: Design and Implementation," funded by the Tennessee State Department of Education
2001-05 Principal Investigator, "School takeover and transformation by city and state government as a reform strategy," funded by the U.S. Department of Education through subcontract with the Laboratory for Student Success
2002-03 Principal Investigator, "The Impact of ICT on Learning: An International 2002 Conference on OECD Studies," funded by the National Science Foundation
2002-03 Principal Investigator, "Educational Reform in Japan," Fellowship for International Senior Scientists awarded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
2001-02 Principal Investigator, "Supplemental Analyses of the Longitudinal Evaluation of School Change and Performance in the Title I Schools," funded by the U.S. Department of Education via a Contract with Westat
1999-01 Principal Investigator, "The Consequences of Accountability: The Effects of Integrated Governance on Instructional Practices in Chicago High Schools," funded by the Spencer Foundation
1997-01 Principal Investigator, "Integrated Governance as a Strategy to Improve Low-Performing High Schools," funded by the National Institute on Educational Governance, U.S. Department of Education
1997-98 Principal Investigator, "A Comparative Study of School Reform in Birmingham (UK) and Chicago," supported by the City of Birmingham, the Chicago Public Schools, British Council, University of Birmingham, and the Division of the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago (Leave of absence from teaching in the Fall and Winter Quarters)
1996-99 Principal Investigator, "Improving Within-School and School-Community Systemic Linkage for At-Risk Students," funded by the National Science Foundation
1996-97 Principal Investigator, "Enhancing Civics Literacy Through Mathematics Literacy," funded by the UCSMP Fund for Research in Mathematics Education, University of Chicago
1995-98 Principal Investigator, "Making System-wide Institutions Work for Teaching and Learning in the Chicago Public Schools," funded by the Joyce Foundation
1995-97 Principal Investigator, "Relation of State Education Reform to Instructional Practices and Student Outcomes: Implications on Narrowing the Learning Gap in Math," funded by the U.S. Department of Education
1995-96 Co-Principal Investigator, "Improving Mathematics Instruction for At-Risk Students," funded by the UCSMP Fund for Research in Mathematics Education, University of Chicago
1995-98 Principal Investigator, "Effects of School Reform on Educational Attainment of Students Considered to be At Risk," funded by the Mid-Atlantic Laboratory for Student Success at Temple University, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, US Department of Education
1994-95 Principal Investigator, "Prospects: Special Analysis on the Impact of Chapter 1 on Student Achievements," funded by the U.S. Department of Education
1994-96 Principal Investigator, "Systemwide Governance in the Chicago Public Schools: A Study Toward Institutional Redesign," funded by the Joyce Foundation and the Spencer Foundation
1993-95 Principal Investigator, "When Federal Chapter 1 Works to Improve Student Learning in the Inner-city Schools," funded by the National Center on Education in the Inner Cities, Office of Educational Research and Improvement, US Department of Education
1993-94 Principal Investigator, "Educational Equity and State Funding," funded by the Spencer Foundation
1992-93 Principal Investigator, "Linking Governance Reform to Schooling Opportunities for the Disadvantaged," funded by the Spencer Foundation and the Benton Center for Curriculum and Instruction
1991-92 Principal Investigator, "Linking Special-needs Pupils to the School Organization," funded by the Benton Center for Curriculum and Instruction, University of Chicago
1991-93 Co-Investigator, "The Changing Urban School System," funded by the Social Science Research Council
1990-91 Principal Investigator, "Effects of State Funding Strategies on Instructional and Curricular Opportunities for the disadvantaged," funded by the Benton Center for Curriculum and Instruction, University of Chicago, and by the Institute for Poverty Research, University of Wisconsin, Madison.
1989-90 Spencer Fellow, National Academy of Education Research Project, "Politics of State Share in Public School Financing in the U.S." (Leave of absence from teaching during the academic year)