Vision & Mission
The Center for Education Policy connects UMass faculty and graduate students with policymakers and practitioners who need information to guide and improve their programs and practices. The Center conducts studies, evaluates initiatives, and facilitates conversations in the area of K-16 education. We conduct program evaluation to help practitioners access and use the information they need to shape effective policies and improve programs and services. This guiding mission has evolved to place increasing focus on program evaluation and connecting policies to the practitioners who implement them. Our goal for future work is to continue to provide specific services directly to clients and as evaluators written into contracts funded through collaborating Centers.
The Center has regularly supported a small number of graduate students who work on the funded projects. The Center has produced numerous evaluation and research reports that have been used by policymakers, program leaders, and practitioners to improve policy implementation, service delivery, and day-to-day practices. The Center is largely self-supporting.
People
Sharon Rallis
Dr. Sharon F. Rallis serves as the Dwight W. Allen Distinguished Professor in Educational Policy and Reform in the Department of Educational Policy, Research & Administration in the College of Education, as well as the director of the Center for Education Policy, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She teaches courses in inquiry, program evaluation, qualitative methodology, and organizational theory. With some 50 years working in education, Sharon has taught and counseled in U.S. K-12 public schools, been a school principal, served on a local school board, directed a U.S. federal school reform initiative, and has held faculty positions at Vanderbilt University, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and the University of Connecticut. She has authored many books and published articles.
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Rebecca Woodland
Rebecca Woodland is a professor of Educational Leadership. Woodland's research interests include leadership for curriculum and instruction, teacher education, professional learning communities, and organizational collaboration.
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