On Sunday, May 16, more than 2,800 of the graduates who gathered around screens last year massed behind the Rotunda, in person and in full color. A year in the making, Sunday’s ceremonies were full of touching moments, joyful reunions and some fun surprises, including a poem from Batten grad Hannah Semmes (BA '20).

Students in the inaugural class of Ed Policy Associates are collaborating with Virginia policymakers on vital research, and gaining vital experience at the same time.

In a new study, Batten’s Ben Castleman, along with his collaborators Gaby Lohner and Kelli Bird from the UVA School of Education and Human Development, investigated how the shift to online learning during COVID-19 has affected student success.

Voting by mail is a safe way to cast a ballot during the current pandemic, and does not benefit either political party, according to Batten's John Holbein.

Hosted by current students and Admissions staff, this is your chance to learn more about our degree programs and the application process, and ask questions about anything and everything related to admissions and the Batten experience. You will also hear from Curry students about their experiences with the Youth and Social Innovation major.

Parag A. Pathak is the Jane Berkowitz Carlton and Dennis William Carlton Professor of Microeconomics at MIT, found­ing co-director of the NBER Working Group on Market Design, and founder of MIT’s School Effectiveness and Inequality Initiative (SEII), a laboratory focused on education, human capital, and the income distribution.

Jointly sponsored by Curry, Economics, and the Frank Batten School

Daphna Bassok is the Batten Bicentennial Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education 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.

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

Chris Hulleman is an associate professor of education and public policy at the Batten School. Hulleman conducts research on educational interventions grounded in theories of social and personality psychology, motivation, and human development. Most recently, his work has focused on examining the extent to which helping students find relevance to their lives in their coursework increases learning and interest.

Dan Player is an associate professor of public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. His research focuses on issues in education policy. His work has examined questions such as how teacher ability is recognized and rewarded in schools, whether teacher performance predicts turnover, and how teachers respond to working conditions.