Martin West

Martin West is an assistant professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, deputy director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Program on Education Policy and Governance, and an executive editor of Education Next. Dr. West’s research focuses on the politics of K-12 education policy in the United States and the causal impact of education reforms on student outcomes. His latest book (co-edited with Joshua Dunn), From Schoolhouse to Courthouse: The Judiciary’s Role in American Education (Brookings Institution Press, 2009), examines the increase in judicial involvement in education policymaking over the past 50 years. He has also published numerous articles in academic journals and other outlets including Education Next, Education Week, and the Wall Street Journal.

Before joining the Harvard faculty, Dr. West taught at Brown University and was a research fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. West received his Ph.D. in Government and Social Policy from Harvard in 2006, his M.Phil. in Economic and Social History from Oxford University in 2000, and his B.A. in History from Williams College in 1998. He is a founding board member of Rhode Island Mayoral Academies, an organization helping educators open socio-economically diverse public charter schools in partnership with Rhode Island mayors.