About News UVA Has 5% of Education Scholars Ranked as 'Most Influential' Jan 06, 2023 Audrey Breen UVA Has 5% of Education Scholars Ranked as 'Most Influential' Four Batten School faculty members affiliated with the EdPolicyWorks research center once again placed in the national rankings of influential education scholars. (Photo by Sanjay Suchak, University Communications)Ten University of Virginia professors, four of whom are faculty members at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, are among 200 named in the 2023 Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, making UVA home to 5% of the nation’s most influential education scholars for the first time since 2015. The annual rankings were published Thursday in the Education Week blog, “Rick Hess Straight Up,” which identifies the 200 university-based faculty members across the country “who had the biggest influence on educational practice and policy.” Daniel Willingham, professor of psychology in the UVA College of Arts & Sciences whose work focuses on cognitive psychology and education, was the highest-ranking UVA scholar as he climbed one spot to No. 10 this year. Carol Tomlinson, professor emerita of the UVA School of Education and Human Development, held on to the No. 12 spot for the second consecutive year. Tomlinson is a world-renowned expert on differentiated instruction, the way a teacher structures lessons to effectively teach students who range widely in proficiency. Closing out the UVA representatives in the top 100 is Bob Pianta, Batten Bicentennial Professor of Early Childhood Education and former dean of the Education School. He is ranked No. 55 this year. Others who have placed in the national rankings for many consecutive years include four scholars affiliated with the EdPolicyWorks research center. Professor of Economics and Education Sarah Turner ranked No. 126 in the 2023 rankings. Jim Wyckoff, professor and founding director of EdPolicyWorks, rose two spots to No. 157. Daphna Bassok, the Batten Bicentennial Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education and associate director of EdPolicyWorks, landed at No. 178. Ben Castleman, the Newton and Rita Meyers Associate Professor in the Economics of Education and director of the Nudge4 Solutions Lab, climbed two spots to No. 179. EdPolicyWorks is a collaboration between the School of Education and Human Development and the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Returning to the rankings for the third consecutive year is Derrick Alridge, the Philip J. Gibson Professor of Education and director of the Center for Race and Public Education in the South. He is ranked No. 192. Read Story in UVA Today Sarah Turner Sarah Turner is a University Professor of economics, education and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Souder Family Endowed Professor. Much of her research focuses on post-secondary education, where she explores the intersection of education and economics policies. Read full bio Daphna Bassok Daphna Bassok is professor of education and public policy at the University of Virginia and associate director of EdPolicyWorks, a collaboration between the School of Education and Human Development and the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Her research focuses on early childhood education policy and efforts to improve early childhood education at scale, particularly policies aimed at supporting the early childhood education workforce. Read full bio Benjamin Castleman Ben Castleman is an associate professor of public policy and education at the Batten School and the founder and director of the Nudge4 Solutions Lab at UVA. His research focuses on policies to improve college access and success for low-income students. Several of his papers examine innovative strategies to deliver high-quality information about the college-going process to low-income students and their families, and to ease the process of students and families getting professional support when they need assistance Read full bio James H. Wyckoff Jim Wyckoff is a professor of education and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Memorial Professor of Education and Policy. Wyckoff focuses on issues of teacher labor markets, teacher preparation, recruitment, assessment and retention. His current research examines how teacher assessment and evaluation systems influence the quality of teaching, especially in traditionally low performing classrooms. Read full bio Related Content Sarah Turner Waivers for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program: Who Would Benefit from Takeup? Research This research identifies more than $100 billion in loan forgiveness available to as many as 3.5 million borrowers through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) waiver program. Potential beneficiaries of this initiative are disproportionately employed in occupations like teaching and health care. However, the distribution of potential benefits of the PSLF waiver depends critically on the extent to which those with high income or advanced degrees are differentially likely to take-up benefits conditional on eligibility. Progressivity of Pricing at US Public Universities Research New research describes recent shifts in net tuition by family income and institution type and assesses the role of changes in state funding in generating these shifts. Jefferson Scholars Foundation Honors Six Outstanding UVA Faculty Members News Batten Professor of economics, education and public policy Sarah Turner was selected as this year's recipient of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation Faculty Prize. Student Loan Payment Pause Benefits High-Income Households the Most News Batten School Professor Sarah Turner, Batten student Eileen Powell and UVA economics doctoral candidate Diego Briones researched who benefits the most from the pause on student loan payments in a piece for Education Next. Daphna Bassok Hard-to-staff centers: Exploring center-level variation in the persistence of child care teacher turnover Research High rates of teacher turnover in child care settings have negative implications for young children's learning experiences and for efforts to improve child care quality. Prior research has explored the prevalence and predictors of turnover at the individual teacher level, but less is known about turnover at the center level––specifically, how turnover varies across child care centers or whether staffing challenges persist year after year for some centers. This study tracks annual turnover rates for all publicly funded child care centers that were continuously operating in Louisiana from the 2015-16 to 2018-19 school years. Measuring the Quality of Teacher-Child Interactions at Scale: The Implications of Using Local Practitioners to Conduct Classroom Observations Research Child Care Centers Are Turning Away Families Due to Teacher Turnover News Batten School professor Daphna Bassok spoke with UVA Today about the how teacher turnover is impacting child care centers. Batten Faculty Recognized for Excellence in Teaching, Service, Research and Engagement News This academic year, Batten School professors won a slew of internal and external recognitions for excellence in teaching, service, research and engagement. Benjamin Castleman Unfinished Business? Academic and Labor Market Profile of Adults With Substantial College Credits But No Degree Research Using data from the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), this case provides the first detailed profile on the academic, employment, and earnings trajectories of the SCND population and how these compare with VCCS graduates. The scholars show that the share of SCND students who are academically ready to re-enroll and would benefit from doing so may be substantially lower than policy makers anticipate. Stacking the Deck for Employment Success: Labor Market Returns to Stackable Credentials Research With rapid technological transformations to the labor market along with COVID-19 related economic disruptions, many working adults return to college to obtain additional training or credentials. Using a comparative individual fixed effects strategy and an administrative panel dataset of enrollment and employment in Virginia, we provide the first causal estimates of credential “stacking” among working adults. Peer Mentoring Improves College Success for Lower-Income Students News In a research update brief, Batten Associate Professor Ben Castleman and colleagues show a sustained positive effect of peer mentoring on college persistence for lower-income students. First Gen Students Are Missing from the Nation’s Top Colleges. Here’s How Virtual Advising Could Help News Batten School professor Ben Castleman spoke with USA Today about the benefits of virtual peer-to-peer advising for first-generation college students. James H. Wyckoff Teacher Turnover, Teacher Quality, and Student Achievement in DCPS Research In practice, teacher turnover appears to have negative effects on school quality as measured by student performance. However, some simulations suggest that turnover can instead have large positive effects under a policy regime in which low-performing teachers can be accurately identified and replaced with more effective teachers. Teacher Layoffs: An Empirical Illustration of Seniority v. Measures of Effectiveness Research School districts are confronting difficult choices in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Today, the financial imbalance in many school districts is so large that there may be few alternatives to teacher layoffs. Batten Faculty Recognized for Excellence in Teaching, Service, Research and Engagement News This academic year, Batten School professors won a slew of internal and external recognitions for excellence in teaching, service, research and engagement. Four Batten Professors Ranked as Nation’s Most Influential Education Scholars News Batten School professors Daphna Bassok, Ben Castleman, Sarah Turner and Jim Wyckoff were among 200 scholars nationwide to rank as highly influential in education policy, according to Education Week. Stay Up To Date with the Latest Batten News and Events Subscribe
Sarah Turner Sarah Turner is a University Professor of economics, education and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Souder Family Endowed Professor. Much of her research focuses on post-secondary education, where she explores the intersection of education and economics policies. Read full bio
Daphna Bassok Daphna Bassok is professor of education and public policy at the University of Virginia and associate director of EdPolicyWorks, a collaboration between the School of Education and Human Development and the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Her research focuses on early childhood education policy and efforts to improve early childhood education at scale, particularly policies aimed at supporting the early childhood education workforce. Read full bio
Benjamin Castleman Ben Castleman is an associate professor of public policy and education at the Batten School and the founder and director of the Nudge4 Solutions Lab at UVA. His research focuses on policies to improve college access and success for low-income students. Several of his papers examine innovative strategies to deliver high-quality information about the college-going process to low-income students and their families, and to ease the process of students and families getting professional support when they need assistance Read full bio
James H. Wyckoff Jim Wyckoff is a professor of education and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the Memorial Professor of Education and Policy. Wyckoff focuses on issues of teacher labor markets, teacher preparation, recruitment, assessment and retention. His current research examines how teacher assessment and evaluation systems influence the quality of teaching, especially in traditionally low performing classrooms. Read full bio
Waivers for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program: Who Would Benefit from Takeup? Research This research identifies more than $100 billion in loan forgiveness available to as many as 3.5 million borrowers through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) waiver program. Potential beneficiaries of this initiative are disproportionately employed in occupations like teaching and health care. However, the distribution of potential benefits of the PSLF waiver depends critically on the extent to which those with high income or advanced degrees are differentially likely to take-up benefits conditional on eligibility.
Progressivity of Pricing at US Public Universities Research New research describes recent shifts in net tuition by family income and institution type and assesses the role of changes in state funding in generating these shifts.
Jefferson Scholars Foundation Honors Six Outstanding UVA Faculty Members News Batten Professor of economics, education and public policy Sarah Turner was selected as this year's recipient of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation Faculty Prize.
Student Loan Payment Pause Benefits High-Income Households the Most News Batten School Professor Sarah Turner, Batten student Eileen Powell and UVA economics doctoral candidate Diego Briones researched who benefits the most from the pause on student loan payments in a piece for Education Next.
Hard-to-staff centers: Exploring center-level variation in the persistence of child care teacher turnover Research High rates of teacher turnover in child care settings have negative implications for young children's learning experiences and for efforts to improve child care quality. Prior research has explored the prevalence and predictors of turnover at the individual teacher level, but less is known about turnover at the center level––specifically, how turnover varies across child care centers or whether staffing challenges persist year after year for some centers. This study tracks annual turnover rates for all publicly funded child care centers that were continuously operating in Louisiana from the 2015-16 to 2018-19 school years.
Measuring the Quality of Teacher-Child Interactions at Scale: The Implications of Using Local Practitioners to Conduct Classroom Observations Research
Child Care Centers Are Turning Away Families Due to Teacher Turnover News Batten School professor Daphna Bassok spoke with UVA Today about the how teacher turnover is impacting child care centers.
Batten Faculty Recognized for Excellence in Teaching, Service, Research and Engagement News This academic year, Batten School professors won a slew of internal and external recognitions for excellence in teaching, service, research and engagement.
Unfinished Business? Academic and Labor Market Profile of Adults With Substantial College Credits But No Degree Research Using data from the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), this case provides the first detailed profile on the academic, employment, and earnings trajectories of the SCND population and how these compare with VCCS graduates. The scholars show that the share of SCND students who are academically ready to re-enroll and would benefit from doing so may be substantially lower than policy makers anticipate.
Stacking the Deck for Employment Success: Labor Market Returns to Stackable Credentials Research With rapid technological transformations to the labor market along with COVID-19 related economic disruptions, many working adults return to college to obtain additional training or credentials. Using a comparative individual fixed effects strategy and an administrative panel dataset of enrollment and employment in Virginia, we provide the first causal estimates of credential “stacking” among working adults.
Peer Mentoring Improves College Success for Lower-Income Students News In a research update brief, Batten Associate Professor Ben Castleman and colleagues show a sustained positive effect of peer mentoring on college persistence for lower-income students.
First Gen Students Are Missing from the Nation’s Top Colleges. Here’s How Virtual Advising Could Help News Batten School professor Ben Castleman spoke with USA Today about the benefits of virtual peer-to-peer advising for first-generation college students.
Teacher Turnover, Teacher Quality, and Student Achievement in DCPS Research In practice, teacher turnover appears to have negative effects on school quality as measured by student performance. However, some simulations suggest that turnover can instead have large positive effects under a policy regime in which low-performing teachers can be accurately identified and replaced with more effective teachers.
Teacher Layoffs: An Empirical Illustration of Seniority v. Measures of Effectiveness Research School districts are confronting difficult choices in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Today, the financial imbalance in many school districts is so large that there may be few alternatives to teacher layoffs.
Batten Faculty Recognized for Excellence in Teaching, Service, Research and Engagement News This academic year, Batten School professors won a slew of internal and external recognitions for excellence in teaching, service, research and engagement.
Four Batten Professors Ranked as Nation’s Most Influential Education Scholars News Batten School professors Daphna Bassok, Ben Castleman, Sarah Turner and Jim Wyckoff were among 200 scholars nationwide to rank as highly influential in education policy, according to Education Week.