Adam Gamoran Biographical Sketch

Adam Gamoran is the John D. MacArthur Professor of Sociology and Educational Policy Studies and Director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on inequality in education and school reform. His most recent edited works are Standards-based reform and the poverty gap: Lessons for No Child Left Behind (Brookings Institution Press, 2007) and, with Yossi Shavit and Richard Arum, Stratification in higher education: A comparative study (Stanford University Press, 2007). Current studies include two large-scale randomized trials: One, supported by the National Science Foundation, focuses on the impact of professional development to improve teaching and learning in elementary science in the Los Angeles Unified School District; the second, supported by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, examines the impact of a parent involvement program to promote family-school social capital and student success in school districts in San Antonio and Phoenix. With support from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, he also directs an interdisciplinary training program that prepares social science doctoral students to conduct rigorous research on pressing problems of education policy and practice. Gamoran is a member of the National Academy of Education, and he has served on a variety of national committees, including the NRC’s Board on International Comparative Studies of Education. Currently he chairs the congressionally-mandated Independent Advisory Panel of the National Assessment of Career and Technical Education for the U.S. Department of Education.