National Education Policy Center

The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) is a non-profit education policy research center located in the School of Education at the University of Colorado at Boulder. It was founded in 2010 and is funded by a variety of governmental organizations, NGOs, and foundations. The Center’s publications are intended for a broad audience that includes academic experts, policy makers, the media, and the general public. The Center's goal is to provide high quality information in support of democratic deliberation about education policy. Among its projects are the Think Tank Review project^[1], the Commercialism in Education Research Unit^[2], and the open access journal Education Review^[3]. The Center sponsors research, produces policy briefs, and publishes expert third party reviews of think tank reports. NEPC will house a new Initiative on Diversity, Equity, and Learning (IDEAL), which is funded by the Ford Foundation. NEPC is also the home of the Education Policy Alliance, a nationwide network of university-based research centers and organizations engaged in education policy research.^[4]

Mission
The mission of the National Education Policy Center is to produce and disseminate high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. We are guided by the belief that the democratic governance of public education is strengthened when policies are based on sound evidence.

The NEPC Staff
Senior academic staff members include nationally recognized education researchers, writers, and practitioners whose experience ensures the quality, timeliness, and value of the work NEPC does:

• Kevin G. Welner, NEPC Director
  NEPC director Kevin G. Welner is a professor the University of Colorado at Boulder School of Education. He is a contributor to the Huffington Post on Education and to the Education Experts blog at the National Journal^[5]. He has authored or edited seven books and more than 70 articles and book chapters concerning education policy and law. He received his B.A. in Biological Sciences from UCSB and his J.D. and Ph.D. from UCLA.
• Alex Molnar, NEPC Publishing Director
  Alex Molnar has published extensively on social and educational policy and practice. For the past several years, he has studied and written about commercial activities in schools and market-based school reforms such as private school vouchers, charter schools, and for-profit schools. Molnar has a B.A. in history, political science, and education; Masters degrees in history and in social welfare; a Specialist's Certificate in educational administration; and a Ph.D. in urban education.
• William J. Mathis, NEPC Managing Director
  William J. Mathis serves on the Vermont state Board of Education, and he previously served as superintendent of schools in Brandon, Vermont. In earlier positions, he was Deputy Assistant Commissioner in New Jersey where he headed assessment, research and evaluation activities. Working with eight institutions of higher education over his career, his primary areas of expertise are school funding, assessment, accountability, and reform effectiveness.
• Gene V Glass, Senior Researcher
  Gene V Glass is Regents' Professor Emeritus from Arizona State University. His Ph.D. was awarded by the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in educational psychology with a minor in statistics.
• Michele S. Moses, Researcher
  Michele S. Moses is Associate Professor and Chair of Educational Foundations, Policy and Practice at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Dr. Moses has been a National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow and a Fulbright New Century Scholar, and recently was awarded the Early Career Award from the American Educational Research Association.

1. ^ http://nepc.colorado.edu/think-tank-reviews
2. ^ http://nepc.colorado.edu/ceru/
3. ^ http://nepc.colorado.edu/education-review/
4. ^ http://educationpolicyalliance.org
5. ^ http://education.nationaljournal.com/contributors/KWelner.php

External links

• National Education Policy Center
• Education Policy Alliance
• Kevin Welner at the Huffington Post
• School of Education, University of Colorado at Boulder
• Education Review
• National Center on Education and the Economy
• Center for Excellence in Education

References

• Leading Education Researchers Announce Creation of National Education Policy Center
• Washington Post Blog Covers NEPC Brief on How to Make Schools Safer for Gay Students
• Welner, K. G. et al. (2010) Think Tank Research Quality: Lessons for Policy Makers, the Media, and the Public. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.