The University of Massachusetts Amherst

McDermott Recipient of Spencer Foundation Mid-Career Grant

University of Massachusetts School of Public Policy (SPP) faculty Kathryn McDermott

Kathryn McDermott, professor of education and public policy, has received a grant from the Spencer Foundation that will enable her to apply social psychological insights concerning racial bias to issues in education policy. Spencer’s grant program is especially designed to support mid-career faculty interested in using new methodological tools or perspectives to address compelling problems in education.

The grant program will provide full funding for McDermott during the 2016-17 academic year, during which time she will be released from teaching and other service responsibilities.

“The effects of broad policies in education depend on the day-to-day decisions that teachers and administrators make about students,” explains McDermott about her proposed work as part of the Spencer award. “Understanding how these decisions contribute to maintaining or challenging racial bias is key to understanding the actual effects of public policy.”

McDermott will work with UMass Amherst professor Linda Tropp (psychological and brain sciences) to better understand how people’s unconscious racial biases shape their decisions and behavior. McDermott is also working with Rachel Godsil of Seton Hall University on applying this research to policy and law, and observing how Phillip Atiba Goff and the Center for Policing Equity conduct evidence-based anti-bias training for police officers.

While expanding knowledge of how individual decisions shape the effects of state and national policies is a key goal, McDermott also hopes to use that knowledge for the greater good. “My ultimate aim is to design interventions that will reduce the influence of unconscious bias on education policy and school practices,” notes McDermott.

McDermott came to UMass Amherst in 1999 after receiving her doctorate in political science from Yale University. She is the author of two important books on education policy, Controlling Public Education: Localism Versus Equity (1999) and High Stakes Reform: The Politics of Educational Accountability (2011).

The Spencer Foundation is one of the foremost grant makers in the field of education research. It was established in 1962 to investigate ways in which education, broadly conceived, can be improved around the world. It has awarded nearly $500 million in grants through its research, fellowship and training programs. The Foundation is based in Chicago, IL.    

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