Katharine O. Strunk

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Dean, Graduate School of Education

Policy, Organizations, Leadership, and Systems Division

George and Diane Weiss Professor of Education

Contact

gsedean@gse.upenn.edu

(215) 898-7014

Media Inquiries:
Contact Penn GSE Communications.

Education

Ph.D. (Education Administration and Policy Analysis) Stanford University, 2007
M.A. (Economics) Stanford University, 2005
B.A. (Public Policy) Princeton University, 1999

Areas of Expertise

K–12 education governance
Teachers’ unions
Collective bargaining agreements
Portfolio management models
Teacher labor markets
School turnaround policies

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Biography

Katharine O. Strunk is an award-winning expert on teacher labor markets, school and district improvement and accountability policies, and efforts to boost student achievement. She has collaborated extensively with district and state policymakers to help decision makers formulate, design, and revise education policy.

Professional Biography

Katharine O. Strunk is the Dean of the Graduate School of Education and the George and Diane Weiss Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She is nationally renowned for her partner-driven research and leadership, which has brought multimethod, collaborative scholarship to bear on pressing questions facing education and educators. She partners extensively with district and state policy makers, including working with the Los Angeles Unified School District and the California and Michigan Departments of Education. She served as the only researcher on Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s Student Recovery Advisory Council, which informed COVID-19 recovery efforts in schools statewide. She has also advised on numerous major local and state education reforms.

Dr. Strunk served as president of the Association for Education Finance and Policy (AEFP) in 2021–2022. She is a member of the Executive Leadership Board for the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice (REACH). From 2017 to 2023, she served as director of the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative (EPIC) at Michigan State University, which partners with the Michigan Department of Education and local school districts to craft targeted research that is a priority for policymakers and educators.

Prior to joining Penn GSE, Dr. Strunk was the Clifford E. Erickson Distinguished Chair in Education and a professor of education policy and by courtesy economics at Michigan State University. From 2009 to 2017 she served on the faculty of the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education and Sol Price School of Public Policy. She began her career at the University of California at Davis School of Education, serving on the faculty from 2007 to 2009.

Research Interests and Current Projects

Dr. Strunk is an award-winning expert on K–12 education governance, including teachers’ unions, collective bargaining agreements, and portfolio management models, as well as teacher labor markets, school turnaround, and accountability policies. Rooted in the fields of economics and public policy, her work centers on structures that are central to state and district operations and policy and the ways these structures affect policymakers’ decisions and outcomes. In her research, she pays particular attention to the ways that policies and programs impact the most traditionally underserved communities.

Dr. Strunk’s research has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals as well as through numerous policy reports written in service of improving policy and practice. She is a co-author of Challenging the One Best System (2020, Harvard Education Press), which offers a comparative analysis of the set of urban education governance reforms collectively known as the “portfolio management model.”

In her current research, she focuses on working with local and state education agencies on studies that will help them inform policy and practice. Her work has been supported by state and federal contracts and grants as well as by philanthropic partners. She has raised more than $21 million in extramural funding over the course of her career.

Publications

Selected Publications

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles & Books (2018–present)

Strunk, K. O. (in press). An invitation to discomfort in pursuit of diversity, inclusion, & excellence. (AEFP Presidential Essay.) Education Finance and Policy.

Burns, J. A.,* Strunk, K. O., Torres, C., Mcilwain, A.,* Harbatkin, E.,* & Waldron, S. F.* (2023, online first). The efficacy and implementation of Michigan’s partnership model of school and district turnaround: Mixed-methods evidence from the first two years of reform implementation. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. https://doi.org/10.3102/016237372211414

Dhaliwal, T. K.,* Lai, I.,* & Strunk, K. O. (2022, online first). Round and round they go: The relationship between changing grades and schools and teacher quality, retention, and absence rates. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737221111800

Sutherland, D.,* Strunk, K. O., Nagel, J.,* & Kilbride T. (2022, online first). Boxed in: Structural limitations to flexible placing in Michigan competency-based education pilot districts. Journal of Educational Change. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-022-09466-2

Goldhaber, D., Imberman, S., Strunk, K. O., Hopkins, B.,* Brown, N., Harbatkin, E.,* & Kilbride, T. (2022). To what extent does in-person schooling contribute to the spread of COVID-19? Evidence from Michigan and Washington. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 41(1), 318–349.

Strunk, K. O., Cowen, J., Goldhaber, D. G., Marianno, B., Kilbride, T., & Theobald, R. (2022). Public school teacher contracts and state-level reforms: Assessing changes to the restrictiveness of collective bargaining agreements across three states. American Educational Research Journal, 59(3), 538–573.

Anderson, K.,* Cowen, J., & Strunk, K. O. (2022). Estimating the impact of teacher labor market reforms on student achievement: Evidence from Michigan. Education Finance & Policy, 17(4), 666–692.

Grossmann, M., Reckhow, S., Strunk, K. O., & Turner, M. (2021). All states close but red districts reopen: The politics of in-person schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Educational Researcher, 50(9), 637–648.

Barrett, N., Strunk, K. O., & Lincove, J. A. (2021). When tenure ends: The short-run effects of the elimination of Louisiana’s teacher employment protections on teacher exit and retirement. Education Economics, 29(6), 559–579.

Cummings, A.,* Strunk, K. O., & De Voto, C. (2021). ‘A lot of states were doing it’: The development of Michigan’s Read by Grade Three law. Journal of Educational Change. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-021-09438-y

Bulkley, K., Torres, A. C., Marsh, J. A., Hashim, A., Woodward, S.,* Strunk, K. O., & Harris, D. (2021). From central office to portfolio manager in three cities: Responding to the principal-agent problem. American Journal of Education, 127 (August), 597–626 . https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/715034

Hashim, A.,* Bush-Mecenas, S. C.,* Strunk, K. O., & Marsh, J. A. (2021). Does autonomy matter? Findings from a district experiment in portfolio management. Leadership and Policy in Schools.

Marianno, B., Bruno, P.,* & Strunk, K. O. (2021). Teachers’ union contracts and the productive efficiency of school districts: Longitudinal evidence from California. Sage Open, January–March 2021, 1–16.

Marsh, J. A., Albright, T. N.,* Brown, D.,* Bulkley, K. E., Strunk, K. O., & Harris, D. N. (2021). The process and politics of educational governance change in New Orleans, Los Angeles, and Denver. American Educational Research Journal, 58(1), 107–159.

Lai, I.*, Wood, W. J.,* Imberman, S. A., Jones, N., & Strunk, K. O. (2021). Teacher quality gaps by disability and socioeconomic status: Evidence from Los Angeles. Educational Researcher, 50(2), 74–85.

Bulkley, K., Marsh, J. A., Strunk, K. O., Harris, D., & Hashim, A. (2020). Challenging the one best system: The portfolio management model and urban school governance. Harvard Education Press. (Winner of the 2022 American Education Research Association Districts in Research and Reform SIG Outstanding Publication Award.)

Bush-Mecenas, S.,* Marsh, J. A., & Strunk, K. O. (2020). Guiding principals: Middle-manager coaching and human capital reform. Teachers’ College Record, 122(10).

Goldhaber, D., Strunk, K. O., Brown, N., Naito, N., & Wolff, M. (2020). Teacher staffing challenges in California: Examining the uniqueness of rural and remote school districts. AERA Open, 6(3), 1–16.

Bruno, P.,* Rabovsky, S.,* & Strunk, K. O. (2019). Taking their first steps: The distribution of new teachers in school and classroom contexts and implications for teacher effectiveness and growth. American Educational Research Journal, 57(4), 1688–1729.

Bruno, P.,* & Strunk, K. O. (2019). Making the cut: The effectiveness of teacher screening and hiring in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 41(4), 426–460.

Brunner, E., Cowen, J., Strunk, K. O., & Drake, S.* (2019). Teacher labor market responses to statewide reform: Evidence from Michigan. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 41(4), 403–425.

Strunk, K. O., & Marianno, B. D.* (2019). Negotiating the Great Recession: How do teacher collective bargaining agreements change in times of financial duress? AERA Open, 5(2), 1–18.

Strunk, K. O., Cowen, J., Goldhaber, D., Marianno, B.,* Kilbride, T.,* & Theobald, R. (2018). It is in the contract: How the policies set in teachers’ unions’ collective bargaining agreements vary across states and districts. Educational Policy, 32(3), 280–310.

Strunk, K. O., Goldhaber, D., Knight, D. S.,* & Brown, N.* (2018). Are there hidden costs associated with conducting layoffs?: The impacts of RIFs and layoffs on teacher effectiveness. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 37(4), 755–782.

Marianno, B. D.,* & Strunk, K. O. (2018). The bad end of the bargain? Revisiting the relationship between collective bargaining agreements and student achievement. Economics of Education Review, 65, 93–106.

Hashim, A. K.,* Strunk, K. O., & Dhaliwal, T.* (2018). Justice for all? Exploring the differential effects of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s restorative justice policy on student suspensions. Peabody Journal of Education, 93(2), 174–189.

Lincove, J. A., Barrett, N., & Strunk, K. O. (2018). Lessons from Hurricane Katrina: The employment effects of the mass dismissal of New Orleans teachers. Educational Researcher, 47(3), 191–203.

Hashim, A.,* Strunk, K. O., & Marsh, J. A. (2018). The new school advantage? Examining the effects of new school openings on student achievement. Economics of Education Review, 62, 254–266.

Marianno, B.,* Theobald, R., Kilbride, T.,* Strunk, K. O., Cowen, J., & Goldhaber, D. (2018). Cut from the same cloth? Comparing urban CBAs within states and across the U.S. Educational Policy, 32(2), 334–359.

Note: * indicates graduate student and postdoctoral scholar co-authors

News & Media

Penn GSE News

Catalyst @ Penn GSE summit shows how entrepreneurs can harness research to help learners

“Propel Your EdTech Venture” brought together researchers, entrepreneurs, U.S. Department of Education officials, and corporate leaders at the forefront of innovation to learn strategies to overcome critical challenges and drive sustainable growth with a focus on putting research into practice.

June 26, 2024

Celebration of Educators 2024 explores the economics of education and honors alumni

Penn GSE’s annual Alumni Weekend event featured a faculty panel discussion on “The Price of Education” and celebrated the winners of the Education Alumni Awards.

June 11, 2024

Dean Strunk advocates for student teacher stipend in the "Philadelphia Inquirer"

Katharine O. Strunk, dean of the Penn GSE, joins her fellow deans from prominent Pennsylvania institutions in highlighting the state's teacher shortage crisis.

May 29, 2024

Dean Katharine Strunk supports fair pay for student teachers in Pennsylvania

In a Philadelphia Inquirer story, Strunk highlighted the importance of equitable stipends in supporting Pennsylvania’s future educators.

May 7, 2024

Penn GSE announces LEED Gold certification on Earth Day

Sustainable upgrades include green roofs, terra cotta and aluminum shading elements, mechanical system updates, and greater use of natural light, combining for 40 percent annual energy use savings.

April 22, 2024

Penn GSE faculty and students to share expertise at AERA 2024 in Philly

Gerald Campano will also be honored with a lifetime achievement award for his professional achievements and mentorship work.

April 8, 2024

Dean Strunk weighs in on teacher turnover

While teacher turnover peaked in 2022, the attrition rate remains stubbornly high.

March 8, 2024

Penn GSE professors named to 2024 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings list

A new year means a new version of the RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, with the 2024 edition announced yesterday by Education Week. Nine researchers from the University of Pennsylvania made the annual 200-member list, which was created by Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) to gauge the public impact of ed scholars’ contributions.

January 5, 2024

Mental Health Crisis Takes Center Stage at Homecoming Panel

Benoit Dubé, Noémie Le Pertel, GRD’21, and Ariane Thomas discuss mental health across the learning lifespan with Dean Katharine Strunk.

December 4, 2023

Dean Katharine Strunk highlights pandemic's impact on math education in “AP News”

Amid the aftermath of pandemic-induced disruptions, college students are grappling with significant challenges in mastering basic math skills, a consequence of the shift to remote schooling. These setbacks have left a particularly pronounced impact on vulnerable student groups, says Dean Strunk.

September 8, 2023

In the Media

Denver education research going forward but not without a fight

Dean Katharine Strunk says data has grown increasingly political with the general polarization around public education; she says data does not need to be weaponized.

Chalkbeat Colorado | July 13, 2023

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