Paul Peterson

Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government (FAS)
Director,
Program on Education Policy and Governance (PEPG)
Taubman Center for State and Local Government
Office Address
Taubman-306
Mailing Address
John F. Kennedy School of Government
Mailbox 101
79 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Contact
Phone: 617-495-8312
Fax: 617-496-4428
Email: Paul_Peterson@ksg.harvard.edu
Paul Peterson

Profile

Paul E. Peterson is the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government and Director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University and Editor in Chief of Education Next, a journal of opinion and research on education policy. He is a former Director of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and of the Governmental Studies program at the Brookings Institution. Peterson is the author or editor of more than 100 articles and 22 books. After receiving his PhD from the University of Chicago, he was a professor for many years there in the Departments of Political Science and Education. Peterson chaired the Social Science Research Council's Committee on the Urban Underclass and has served on many committees of the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences. 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. Most recently he was awarded the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation prize for Distinguished Scholarship, part of its Excellence in Education award program. He has also been appointed to a Department of Education independent review panel to advise the agency in evaluating the No Child Left Behind Act.

 

Courses

Not Offered

  • HLE-348 The Political Economy of the School

Fall

  • HLE-347 The Politics of American Education

Media Expertise

Paul Peterson welcomes media inquiries on the following subjects:

Additional experts may be found by clicking on each subject listed. You may contact faculty directly or if you need assistance contact the Communications Office at 617-495-1115.

Research

Research for a complete list of faculty citations from 2001 - present, please visit the Harvard Kennedy School Research Report Online.

Selected Publication Citations:

  • Academic Journals
    • Howell, William G., Martin R. West, and Paul E. Peterson. "What Americans Think About Their Schools: The 2007 Education Next - PEPG Survey." Education Next 7.3 (Summer 2007).
    • Peterson, Paul E. "The Entrepreneurs and the New Commission: Changing Minds in the Education Establishment." Education Next 7.2 (Spring 2007): 5.
    • Peterson, Paul E., and Elena Llaudet. "The NCES Private-Public School Study: Findings are Other than They Seem." Education Next 7.1 (Winter 2007): 75-79.
    • West, Martin R., and Paul E. Peterson. "The Efficacy of Choice Threats Within School Accountability Systems: Results from Legislatively Induced Experiments." Economic Journal 116.510 (March 2006): C46-C62.
    • Peterson, Paul E. "The Case for Curriculum-Based, External Examinations That Have Significant Consequences for Students." Peabody Journal of Education 82.4 (2007): 645-666.
  • Book Chapters
    • Peterson, Paul E. "The A+ Plan." Reforming Education in Florida: A Study Prepared by the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education. Ed. Paul E. Peterson. Hoover Institution, 2006.
    • Peterson, Paul E., Nathan Torinus and Brad Smith. "School Choice in Milwaukee Fifteen Years Later." Charter Schools Against the Odds: An Assessment of the Koret Task Force on K–12 Education. Ed. Paul T. Hill. Education Next Books, 2006.
    • Peterson, Paul E. "Productivity of Public and Private Schools." Courting Failure: How School Finance Lawsuits Exploit Judges' Good Intentions and Harm our Children. Ed. Eric Hanushek. Hoover Press, 2006.
  • Books
    • Howell, William G., and Paul E. Peterson, with Patrick J. Wolf and David E. Campbell. The Education Gap: Vouchers And Urban Schools, Revised Edition. Brookings Institution, 2006.
    • Fiorina, Morris P., Paul E. Peterson, Bertram Johnson, and William G. Mayer. The New American Democracy, 5th Edition. Pearson/Longman, 2006.
  • Edited Volumes
    • West, Martin R., and Paul E. Peterson, eds. School Money Trials: The Legal Pursuit of Educational Adequacy. Brookings Institution, 2007.
    • Peterson, Paul E., ed. Reforming Education in Florida: A Study Prepared by the Koret Task Force on K-12 Education. Hoover Institution, 2006.
  • Magazine and Newspaper Articles
    • Peterson, Paul E. "Keeping Education Accountable." Harvard Crimson February 6, 2007.
  • Op-Eds
    • Peterson, Paul E. "America's Education Industrial Complex." New York Sun, May 9, 2008.
    • Peterson, Paul E., and Matthew Chingos. "Educational Rewards." Wall Street Journal, November 7, 2007.
    • Peterson, Paul E. "School Choice and Racial Balance." Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2007.
    • Peterson, Paul E. "The Philadelphia Story." Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2007.
    • Peterson, Paul E. "Keeping Education Accountable." Harvard Crimson, February 6, 2007.
  • Research Papers/Reports
    • Peterson, Paul E., and Matthew M. Chingos. "Impact of For-Profit and Non-Profit Management on Student Achievement: The Philadelphia Experiment." KSG Faculty Research Working Paper Series RWP07-055, November 2007.